■ 



vv 



- 

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THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF 
THE HOLY LAND 



10 if 




THE 

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 



OF THE 



HOLY LAND 

ESPECIALLY IN RELATION TO THE HISTORY 
OF ISRAEL AND OF THE EARLY CHURCH 

BY THE VERY REV. SIR 

GEORGE ADAM SMITH, M.A., D.D., 
LLD, Litt.D., F.B.A. 

VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRINCIPAL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN 



WITH SIX MAPS 



NEW 




YORK 



GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



PLATE II 




&> 



Made and Printed in Great Britain. 
T. and A. Constable Ltd., Printers, Edinburgh. 



TO 



PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION 



To this Edition two new features have been added. 
One is an Index of Scripture References ; the other is 
a series of Additional Notes. The latter are similar to 
those published with the Second Edition. They record 
the more important researches and discoveries in Pales- 
tine during the past two years ; the changes in the 
political and social condition of the country ; and the 
recent contributions to the literature of its history and 
exploration. 

In the text of the volume I have made a few altera- 
tions in accordance with the suggestions of various 
scholars who reviewed the First Edition, and even where 
I have retained my own views on points in dispute I 
have been careful to record theirs in the Additional 
Notes. One of the alterations will be found on pp. 
634 f., where in face of the arguments of Professor 
Ramsay and Mr. W. E. Crum — which I have summarised 
in an Additional Note on p. 680 — I have felt obliged to 
modify the contrast I had drawn between Pagan and 
Christian epitaphs on the east of Jordan. I have to 
direct special attention to the Additional Note on Aphek 
(see p. 675); and to the very valuable account which 

Tii 



viii The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Dr. Bailey, late of Nablus, has kindly sent me, of the 
peculiar virtues of the water of Jacob's Well. This 
goes far to explain why an artificial well was required 
and used in a region so rich in open streams. I have 
printed Dr, Bailey's account as an Additional Note 
on p. 676. 

I have given a number of references to Buhl's im- 
portant book on Die Alte Geographic Paldstinas, just 
published in the series known as Grundriss der Theol 
Wissenschaft. In the department of the literature of 
the subject, I have to express my great obligations 
to Dr. Benzinger's annual records which appear in the 
Zeitschrift des Deutschen Paldstina- Vereins. 

GEORGE ADAM SMITH, 

Glasgow, Nov. 1896. 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 

I HERE are many ways of writing a geography of Palestine, 
and of illustrating the History by the Land, but some are 
wearisome and some are vain. They do not give a vision 
of the land as a whole, nor help you to hear through it the 
sound of running history. What is needed by the reader 
or teacher of the Bible is some idea of the main outlines of 
Palestine — its shape and disposition ; its plains, passes and 
mountains ; its rains, winds and temperatures ; its colours, 
lights and shades. Students of the Bible desire to see a 
background and to feel an atmosphere — to discover from 
' the lie of the land ' why the history took certain lines and 
the prophecy and gospel were expressed in certain styles 
— to learn what geography has to contribute to questions 
of Biblical criticism— above all, to discern between what 
physical nature contributed to the religious development 
of Israel, and what was the product of purely moral 
and spiritual forces. On this last point the geography 
of the Holy Land reaches its highest interest. It is 
also good to realise the historical influences by which 
our religion was at first nurtured or exercised, as far 
as we can do this from the ruins which these have left 
in the country. To go no further back than the New 
Testament — there are the Greek art, the Roman rule, 



x The Historical Geography of the Hoty Land 



and the industry and pride of Herod. But the remains of 
Scripture times are not so many as the remains of the 
centuries since. The Palestine of to-day, as I have said 
further on, is more a museum of Church history than of 
the Bible — a museum full of living as well as of ancient 
specimens of its subject East of Jordan, in the in- 
destructible basalt of Hauran, there are monuments of 
the passage from Paganism to Christianity even more 
numerous and remarkable than the catacombs or earliest 
Churches of Rome ; there are also what Italy cannot give 
us — the melancholy wrecks of the passage from Christianity 
to Mohammedanism. On the west of the Jordan there 
are the castles and churches of the Crusaders, the im- 
pression of their brief kingdom and its ruin. There is the 
trail of the march and retreat of Napoleon. And, then, 
after the long silence and crumbling of all things native, 
there are the living churches of to-day, and the lines of 
pilgrims coming up to Jerusalem from the four corners of 
the world. 

For a historical geography compassing such a survey, 
the conditions are to-day three— personal acquaintance 
with the land ; a study of the exploration, discoveries and 
decipherments, especially of the last twenty years ; and 
the employment of the results of Biblical criticism during 
the same period. 

I. The following chapters have been written after two 
visits to the Holy Land. In the spring of 1880 I made a 
journey through Judaea, Samaria, Esdraelon, and Galilee : 



Preface to the First Edition 



XI 



that was before the great changes which have been produced 
on many of the most sacred landscapes by European 
colonists, and by the rivalry in building between the Greek 
and Latin Churches. Again, in 1891, I was able to extend 
my knowledge of the country to the Maritime Plain, the 
Shephelah, the wilderness of Judaea, including Masada and 
Engedi, the Jordan Valley, Hermon, the Beka ( , and espe- 
cially to Damascus, Hauran, Gilead, and Moab. Unfor- 
tunately — in consequence of taking Druze servants, we 
were told— we were turned back by the authorities from 
Bosra and the Jebel Druz, so that I cannot write from 
personal acquaintance with those interesting localities, but 
we spent the more time in the villages of Hauran, and 
at Gadara, Gerasa and Pella, where we were able to add 
to the number of discovered inscriptions. 

2. With the exception of the results of early geographers, 
admirably summarised by Reland, the renewal of Syrian 
travel in the beginning of this century, and the great work 
of Robinson fifty years ago — the real exploration of Pales- 
tine has been achieved during the last twenty years. It 
has been the work of no one nation ; its effectiveness is due 
to its thoroughly international character. America gave the 
pioneers in Robinson, Smith, and Lynch. To Great Britain 
belong, through the Palestine Exploration Fund — by 
Wilson, Warren, Drake, Tristram, Conder, Kitchener, 
Mantell, Black and Armstrong — the splendid results of 
a trigonometrical survey of all Western, and part of 
Eastern, Palestine, a geological survey, the excavations at 



xii The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Jerusalem and Tell el Hesy, very numerous discoveries 
and identifications, and the earliest summaries of natural 
history and meteorology. But we cannot forget that this 
work was prepared for, and has been supplemented in 
its defects, both by French and Germans. The French 
have been first in the departments of art and archaeology 
— -witness Waddington, Ren an, De Vogii£, De Saulcy, 
Clermont- Ganneau, and Rey. In topography, also, through 
Guerin and others, the French contributions have been 
important. To Germany we owe many travels and re- 
searches, which, like Wetzstein's, have added to the geo- 
graphy, especially of Eastern Palestine. The Germans 
have also given what has been too much lacking in Britain, 
a scientific treatment of the geography in the light of 
Biblical criticism : in this respect the work of Socin, Guthe, 
and their colleagues in the Deutsche Palastina-Verein, has 
been most thorough and full of example to ourselves. The 
notes in this volume will show how much I have been 
indebted to material provided by the journals of both the 
British and German societies, as well as to other works 
issued under their auspices. I have not been able to use 
any of the records of the corresponding Russian society. 
Recent American literature on Palestine is valuable, chiefly 
for the works of Merrill, and Clay Trumbull. 

But the most distinctive feature of the work of the last 
twenty years has been the aid rendered by the European 
inhabitants of Syria. Doctors and missionaries, the chil- 
dren of the first German colonists and of the earlier 



Preface to the First Edition xiil 



American missionaries, have grown into a familiarity with 
the country, which the most expert of foreign explorers 
cannot hope to rival. Through the British and German 
societies, Chaplin, Schumacher, Schick, Gatt, Fischer of 
Sarona, Klein, Hanauer, Baldensperger, Post, West and 
Bliss have contributed so immense an amount of topo- 
graphical detail, nomenclature, meteorology and informa- 
tion concerning the social life of the country, that there 
seems to lie rather a century than a score of years between 
the present condition of Syriology and that which pre- 
vailed when we were wholly dependent on the records of 
passing travellers and pilgrims. 

During recent years a very great deal has been done 
for the geography of Palestine from the side of Assyrian 
and Egyptian studies, such as by the younger Delitzsch, 
Maspero, Sayce, Tomkins, and especially W. Max Miiller, 
whose recent work, Asien u. Europa nach den alt-dgypti- 
schen Denkmalern, has so materially altered and increased 
the Egyptian data. I need not dwell here on the informa- 
tion afforded by the Tell-el-Amarna tablets as to the 
condition of Palestine before the coming of Israel. 

On the Roman and Greek periods there have appeared 
during recent years the works of Mommsen, Mahaffy, 
Morrison, Neubauer, Niese's new edition of Josephus, 
Boettger's topographical Lexicon to Josephus, the collec- 
tion of Nabatean inscriptions in the Corpus Inscriptions n 
Semiticarum, and Schiirer's monumental History of the 
Jewish People in the Time of Christ. I have constantly 



xiv The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



referred to the latter on the Maccabean anoV Herodian 
periods ; and where I have ventured to differ from his 
geographical conclusions it has always been with hesitation. 

The last fifteen years have also seen the collection and 
re-publication of the immense pilgrim literature on Pales- 
tine, a more thorough research into the Arab geographies, 
of which Mr. Guy Le Strange's Palestine under the 
Moslems affords the English reader so valuable a sum- 
mary, and a number of works on the Crusades and the 
Frank occupation and organisation of Palestine, of which 
the chief are those of Rey, Rohricht and Prutz. The 
great French collection of the Historians of the Crusades, 
begun as far back as 1843, largely falls within this 
generation. 

From one source, which hitherto has been unused, I 
have derived great help. I mean Napoleon's invasion of 
Syria and his conduct of modern war upon its ancient 
battle-fields. It is a great thing to follow Napoleon on 
the routes taken by Thothmes, Sennacherib, Alexander, 
Vespasian, and the Crusaders, amidst the same difficulties 
of forage and locomotion, and against pretty much the 
same kind of enemies ; and I am surprised that no 
geographer of the country has availed himself of the 
opportunity which is afforded by the full records of 
Napoleon's Asiatic campaign, and by the journals of the 
British officers, attached to the Turkish army which fol- 
lowed up his retreat. 

Of all these materials I have made such use as con- 



Preface to the First Edition 



tributed to the aim of this work. I have added very few 
original topographical suggestions. I have felt that just 
at present the geographer of Palestine is more usefully 
employed in reducing than in adding to the identifications 
of sites. In Britain our surveyors have been tempted to 
serious over-identification, perhaps by the zeal of a portion 
of the religious public, which subscribes to exploration 
according to the number of immediate results. In Ger- 
many, where they scorn us for this, the same temptation 
has been felt, though from other causes, and the Zeitschrift 
des Deutschen Palastina-Vereins has almost as many rash 
proposals as the Quarterly Statement, and Old and New 
Testament Maps, of the Palestine Exploration Fund. I 
have, therefore, ignored a number of identifications and 
contested a number more. If the following pages leave 
the reader with many problems stated rather than solved, 
this has been done of purpose. The work of explorers 
and critics has secured an enormous number of results 
which cannot be reasonably doubted. But in many other 
cases what has been achieved is simply the collection of 
all the evidence that exists above-ground — evidence which 
is conflicting, and can be settled only by such further 
excavations as Messrs. Flinders Petrie and Bliss have so 
happily inaugurated at Tell-el-Hesy. The exploration, of 
Western Palestine at least, is almost exhausted on the 
surface, but there is a great future for it under-ground. 
We have run most of the questions to earth : it only 
remains to dig them up. 



xvi The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



3. But an equally strong reason for the appearance at this 
time of a Historical Geography of Palestine is the recent 
progress of Biblical Criticism. The relation of the geo- 
graphical materials at our disposal, and the methods of 
historical reconstruction, have been wholly altered by Old 
Testament science, since, for instance, Dean Stanley wrote 
his Sinai and Palestine. That part of criticism which 
consists of the distinction and appreciation of the various 
documents, of which the Books of Scripture are composed, 
has especially contributed to the elucidation and arrange- 
ment of geographical details in the history of Israel, which 
without it had been left by archaeology in obscurity. I 
heartily agree with most of what is said on the duty of 
regulating the literary criticism of the Bible by the 
archaeology of Syria and the neighbouring countries, but 
we must remember there is a converse duty as well. We 
have had too many instances of the embarrassment and 
confusion into which archaeology and geography lead 
us, apart from the new methods of Biblical Criticism. 
And to those among us who are distrustful of the latter, I 
would venture to say that there is no sphere in which the 
helpfulness of recent criticism, in removing difficulties and 
explaining contradictions, has been more apparent than 
in the sphere of Biblical Geography. In this volume I 
have felt forced by geographical evidence to contest some of 
the textual and historical conclusions of recent critics, both 
in this country and in Germany, but I have fully accepted 
the critical methods, and I believe this to be the first geo- 



Preface to the First Edition 



xvii 



graphy of the Holy Land in which they are employed. 
In fact, at this time of day, it would be simply futile to 
think of writing the geography of Palestine on any other 
principles. 

It is as a provisional attempt to collect old and new 
material from all these sources that I offer the following 
pages. I have not aimed at exhausting the details of the 
subject, but I have tried to lay down what seem to me 
the best lines both for the arrangement of what has been 
already acquired, and for the fitting on to it of what may 
still be discovered. There are a few omissions which the 
reader will notice. I have entirely excluded the topo- 
graphy of Jerusalem, the geography of Phoenicia, and the 
geography of Lebanon. This has been because I have 
never visited Phoenicia, because Lebanon lies properly 
outside the Holy Land, and because an adequate topo- 
graphy of Jerusalem, while not contributing to the general 
aim of the volume, would have unduly increased the size 
of a work which is already too great. I was anxious to 
give as much space as possible to Eastern Palestine, of 
which we have had hitherto no complete geography. 

Portions of Chapters VII, VIII, xn-xiv, and XX, most 
of Chapters X, xv-xvil, XIX, and XXI, and all Chapter 
XVIII, have already appeared in The Expositor for 1892-93. 

With regard to maps, this volume has been written 
with the use of what must be for a long time the finest 
illustration of the geography of Palestine — the English 

b 



xviii The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Survey Maps, both the large map of Western Palestine, on 
the scale of an inch to the mile, and the reduced map of 
all Palestine on the scale of three-eighths of an inch to 
the mile. The latter, in its editions of 1891 ff., though over- 
crowded by 1 identifications,' is by far the most useful map 
ever published for students or travellers : one might call it 
indispensable. Mr. Armstrong has lately put this map 
into relief ; the result is a most correct, clear and impres- 
sive reproduction of the shape and physical varieties of 
the land. If students desire a cheap small map, brought 
down to date, they will find it in Fischer and Guthe's ad- 
mirable map of Palestine, published by the German society. 

The six maps for this volume have been specially 
prepared by the eminent cartographer, Mr. John George 
Bartholomew, of Edinburgh, and my hearty than lcs arc 
due to him for the care and impressiveness with which 
he has produced them. The large map and the three 
sectional ones (the latter on the scale of four miles 
to an inch) have this distinction, that they are the 
first orographical maps of Palestine, representing the 
whole lie and lift of the land by gradations of colour. 
The little sketch-map on p. 51 is to illustrate the chapter 
on the form and divisions of the land : while the map of 
the Semitic World has been prepared, under my directions, 
to illustrate Syria's place in history, and her influence 
westwards. Through the courtesy of the engineers, Mr. 
Bartholomew has been able to indicate the line of the new 
Acca-Damascus Railway. 



Preface to the First Edition xix 

During my work on this volume, I have keenly felt the 
want, in English, of a good historical atlas of the Holy 
Land. I have designed one such, containing from thirty 
to forty maps, and covering the history of Syria from the 
earliest epochs to the Crusades and the present century ; 
and preparations are being made by Mr. Bartholomew 
and myself for its publication by Messrs. Hodder and 
Stoughton. 

In conclusion, I have to thank, for help rendered me at 
various times, both in travel and in study, Dr. Selah 
Merrill ; Rev. W. Ewing, late of Tiberias, whose collec- 
tion of inscriptions is promised by the Exploration 
Fund ; Dr. Mackinnon and Rev. Stewart Crawford of 
Damascus ; Rev. Henry Sykes of the Church Missionary 
Society at Es-Salt ; Rev. C. A. Scott of Willesden ; and 
Professors Ramsay and Kennedy of Aberdeen. I have 
been greatly assisted by two collections of works on the 
Holy Land : that made by Tischendorf, now in possession 
of the Free Church College, Glasgow ; and that made 
by the late Mr. M'Grigor of Glasgow, now in the Library 
of Glasgow University. 

My wife has revised all the proofs of this volume, and, 
with a friend, prepared the Index. 

GEORGE ADAM SMITH. 



iSih April 1894- 



CONTENTS 



fAGB 

PREFACE, vii 

LIST OF PLATES, . •.-;.« • • . xxiv 

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, . xxv 

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, Etc., , xxvii 

Book I.—THE LAND AS A WHOLE 

CHAF. 

I. The Place of Syria in the World's History, , i 

1. The Relation of Syria to Arabia, . , 7 

2. The Relation of Syria to the Three Continents, . 1 1 

3. Syria's Opportunity Westward, . , . 21 

4. The Religion of Syria, .... 28 

II. The Form of the Land and its Historical Con- 
sequences, ...... 43 

III. The Climate and Fertility of the Land, with 

their Effects on its Religion, . . 61 

1. The Climate, 61 

2. The Fertility, . . . . . 76 

IV. The Scenery of the Land, with its Reflection in 

the Poetry of the Old Testament, . « 90 

V. The Land and Questions of Faith, . , 105 
VI. The View from Mount Ebal, . . .117 



xxii Contents 





Book II.— WESTERN PALESTINE 




CHAP. 

VII. 


The Coast, ...... 


JTAG2 
125 


VIII. 


The Maritime Plain, . . s 


145 


IX. 


The Philistines and their Cities, . \ , 


167 


X. 


The Shephelah, 


199 


XI. 


Early Christianity in the Shephelah, 


237 


XII, 


J0P./EA and Samaria — The History of their 
Frontier, ...... 


245 


XIII. 


The Borders and Bulwarks of Jubma, 


257 




1. East : The Great Gulf with Jericho and Engedi— The 

Entrance of Israel, .... 

2. The Southern Border : The Negeb, . 

3. The Western Border : The Defiles, . 

4. The Northern Border : The Fortresses of Benjamin, 


261 
278 

286 
2S9 


XIV. 


An Estimate of the Real Strength of Judaea, . 


295 


XV. 


The Character of Jud^sa, . 


303 


XVI. 


Samaria, ..•.».. 


321 


XVII. 


The Strong Places of Samaria, • , . 


343 


XVIII. 


The Question of Sychar, < • 


365 


XIX. 


Esdrablon, . . . . 


377 


XX. 


Galilee, 


411 


XXI. 


The Lake of Galilee, • • • • • 


437 


XXII. 


The Jordan Valley, . . . • 


465 


XXIII. 


The Dead Ska, ...... 


497 



Contents 



xxiil 



Book III.— EASTERN PALESTINE 

CHAP. TAGR 

XXIV. Over Jordan : General Features, . . , 517 

XXV. The Names and Divisions of Eastern Palestine, 531 

1. The Three Natural Divisions, . . . 534 

2. The Political Names and Divisions To-day, . . 535 

3. In the Greek Times : the Time of Our Lord, , 538 

4. Under the Old Testament, . . . .548 

XXVI. Moab and the Coming of Israel, , . » 555 

XXVII. Israel in Gilead and Bashan, . , .573 

XXVIII. Greece over Jordan : The Decapolis, « , 593 
XXIX. Hauran and its Cities, , . , t 609 

XXX. Damascus, 639 

APPENDICES 

I. Some Geographical Passages and Terms of the 

Old Testament, . . ■ . .651 

II. Stade's Theory of Israel's Invasion of Western 

Palestine, ...»». 659 

III. The Wars against Sihon and Og, . . . 662 

IV. The Bibliography of Eastern Palestine, , 665 
V. Roads and Wheeled Vehicles in Syria, . . 667 

INDEX OF SUBJECTS, 683 

INDEX OF AUTHORITIES, , , , 698 

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES, * . 703 



LIST OF PLATES 

^ i. Gener a l Map of Palestine, . . . .{ In f '* 

I end of the Volume 

V II. Map of the Semitic World, Frontispiece 
III. Physical Sketch Map, ,.,*•>. on page 51 

v IV. Jud^a, the Shephelah, and Philistia, , . to face page 167 

J 

V. Samaria, ,,321 

v VI. Esdraelon and Lower Galilee. , 4 „ 377 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 



Karkar 



Entrance of Israel into Palestine, . • 

Deborah and her Song, > 

Gideon, ) 

Saul anointed, * 

David, King, . 

Solomon, King, .... 

Disruption of the Kingdom and invasion by Shishak 
Elijah, ...... 

Israel comes into touch with Assyria : Battle of K 
Elisha, ...... 

First Writing Prophets : Amos, Hosea, 

f Uzziah dies, ...» 
Isaiah -[ Northern Israel falls, . ., . 
(.Deliverance of Jerusalem, . , 
Discovery of Book of Law, , 
Death of Josiah at Megiddo, 
Fall of Assyria : Rise of Babylonia, 
First Great Captivity of Jerusalem, 
^Second „ „ „ 

{Fall of Babylonia : Rise of Persia, 
Return of Jews from exile, . 
Temple Rebuilt, 
Ezra and Nehemiah, . 
Erection of Temple on Gerizim, „ 
Alexander the Great in Syria, . , 
Beginning of Seleucid Era, . * 
Kingdom of Parthia founded, . 
Rome defeats Antiochus the Great at Magnesia, 



Jeremiah - 
Ezekiel 





B.C. 


circa 


I300 


before 


I IOO 


circa 


I075 


» 


I030 




IOOO 




970 




O7O 


ir, 


8 r a 
554 


• 


85O-80O 


circa 


750 




740 


• 


721 




70I 




621 




608 




606 




597 




587 




538 




536 




515 




457-440 




360 




332 




312 




250 




192 



XXVI 



Chronological Table 



The Maccabees, . . . . . .166-135 

John Hyrcanus, ...... 135-105 

Alexander Janneus, ...... 104-78 

Arrival of Pompey : Roman Province of Syria, . , 64 

Parthians invade Syria, « . 40 

Battle of Actium, ... ... 31 

Herod the Great, . . ... 37-4 

His kingdom divided among Archelaus, Herod Antipas, 

and Philip, ...... 4 

A.D. 

Archelaus banished : Judaea under Roman Procurator, . 6 
Death of Philip, 34 
Banishment of Antipas, • . , 39 

Agrippa I., ...... . 37-44 

Agrippa II., ....... 50-100 

Jewish Rebellion against Rome, .... 66 

Siege of Jerusalem, ...... 70 

Formation of Roman Province of Arabia by Trajan, . 106 

Final overthrow of the Jews under Bar Cochba by Hadrian, 135 
Origen in Palestine, ..... circa 218 

Decian Persecution, . . , . „ 250 

Diocletian's Persecution, . , . on from 303 

Eusebius, Archbishop of Caesarea, .... 315-318 

Constantine the Great, ..... 323-336 

Final overthrow of Paganism in Palestine, . . circa 400 
The Hejra . . . . . . .622 

Death of Mohammed, ...... 632 

Moslem conquest of Syria, ..... 634-638 

Omeyyade Khalifs make Damascus their capital, , . 661 
Invasion of Seljuk Turks, .... 1070-1085 

First Crusade and Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, . 1098-1187 
Battle of Hattin won by Saladin, . . . .1187 

Third Crusade, Richard of England, . . , .1191 

Sultan Bibars, and overthrow of the Franks, . circa 1270 

Mongol Invasions, the last by Timur, . 1240, 1260, 1400 

Napoleon in Syria, ...... 1799 



ABBREVIATIONS 



Baudissin, Stud. — Studien zur Semitischen Rtligionsgeschichte. 
Boha-ed-Din, Vit Sal., ed. Schult—Viia Saladinis, with excerpts from the 

geography of Abulfeda, ed. Schultens. See p. 17, n. 2. 
Budde, Ri. u. Sa. or Richt. Sam. = Die Bikker Richter u. Samuelis. 
C./.S. = Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, cf, p. 15, n. I. 
Conder, T. W.= Tent Work in Palestine. 

De Saulcy, Num. de la T.S.= Numismatique de la Terre Sainte. 
Geog. Gr. Min. = Geographi Graeci Minores, edd. Hudson and Miiller. See 
p. 16. 

Hend. Pal. = The Historical Geography of Palestine, by Rev. A. Henderson, 
D.D. 2d ed. In ' Handbooks for Bible Classes. ' Clark, Edinburgh. 
Jose hus, Antt. — Antiquities. 

Wars— Wars of the Jews. 
K.A .T. =Schrader's Keilinschriften u. das Alte Testament. 
N'eubauer, Geog. Tal.^La Geographie du Talmud, Paris, 1868. 
P E.F. Mem. — Memoirs of the Palestine Exploration Fund. 
P. E. F. Q. = Quarterly Statement of Palestine Exploration Fund. 
P. E.F. Red. Ma p = Reduced Map of Palestine Exploration Fund, edd. 1890 f. 
P.P. T. = Palestine Pilgrims Text Society's Series of Publications. 
Robertson Smith, 0. T.J. C. = Old Testament in the Jewish Church, ed. 2, 
. 1892. 

Robinson, B.R. or Bib. Res. = Biblical Researches, London, 1841. 

L.R.= Later Researches, London, 1852. 
Siegfried- Stade = Siegfried and Stade's Handworterbuch. 
Stade, G.V.I, or Gesch. = Geschichie des Volkes Israel. 

Wadd.=Le Bas and Waddington, Inscriptions Grecques et Latines recuillies 

en Grhc et en Asie Mineure. See p. 15, n. I. 
Wetz. = Wetzstein. 

Z.A.T. W. — Zeitschrift fur Alt-testamentliche Wissenschaft. 
Z.D.M.G. — Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenldndischen Gesellschaft. 
Z.D.P. V. = Zeitschrift des Deutschen Paldstina- Vereins. 
M. u.N.D.P. V. = Mitlheilungen und Nachrichten des Deutschen Paldstina- 
Vereins. 

In the transliteration of Hebrew and Arabic words *Aleph is usually ren- 
dered by a light, l Ayin by a rough, breathing; but in well-known name? 
they are sometimes omitted ; Qoph by K ; Sade usually by S. 

In ancient names Gimel is rendered by G (hard), in modern names by/. 

XIYll 



BOOK I 

THE LAND AS A WHOLE 

CHAPTER I 
THE PLACE OF SYRIA IN THE WORLD'S 
HISTORY 



A 



For this chapter consult Map 11. 



THE PLACE OF SYRIA IN THE WORLD'S 
HISTORY 



BETWEEN the Arabian Desert and the eastern coast 
of the Levant there stretches — along almost the 
full extent of the latter, or for nearly 400 miles — a tract 
of fertile land varying from 70 to 100 miles in breadth. 
This is so broken up by mountain range and valley, that 
it has never all been brought under one native govern- 
ment ; yet its well-defined boundaries — the sea on the 
west, Mount Taurus on the north, and the desert to east 
and south — give it a certain unity, and separate it from 
the rest of the world. It has rightly, therefore, been 
covered by one name, Syria. Like that of -p^e Names 
Palestine, the name is due to the Greeks, but of the Land " 
by a reverse process. As ' Palestina/ which is really 
Philistina, was first the name of only a part of the 
coast, and thence spread inland to the desert, 1 so Syria, 
which is a shorter form of Assyria, was originally 
applied by the Greeks to the whole of the Assyrian 
Empire from the Caucasus to the Levant, then shrank 
to this side of the Euphrates, and finally within the 
limits drawn above. The Arabs call the country Esh- 
Sham, or ' The Left,' for it is really the northern or 
north-western end of the great Arabian Peninsula, of 

1 See p. A- 



4 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



which they call the southern side El Yemen, or ' The 
Right.' 1 

The name Palaistine, which Josephus himself uses only 
of Philistia, was employed by the Greeks to distinguish 
all Southern Syria, inclusive of Judaea, from Phoenicia and 
Coele-Syria. They called it Syria Palaistin£, using the 
word as an adjective, and then Palaistine^ the noun 
alone. From this the Romans got their Palestina, which 
in the second century was a separate province, and later 
on divided into Palestina Prima, Secunda, Tertia. It 
still survives in the name of the Arab gund or canton — 
Filistin. 2 

These were foreign names : the much older and native 
name Canaan is of doubtful origin, perhaps racial, but 

1 Syria, as a modern geographical term, is to be distinguished from the 
Syria and Syrians of the English version of the Old Testament. The 
Hebrew of these terms is Aram, Arameans, a northern Semitic people who 
dwelt in Mesopotamia, Aram-Naharaim, and west of the Euphrates — as far 
west as the Phoenician coast, and south to Damascus. Some, however, hold 
that Aram-Naharaim was on this side the Euphrates. The Roman Province 
of Syria extended from the Euphrates to Egypt. Its eastern boundary was 
a line from the head of the Gulf of Suez past the south-eastern end of the 
Dead Sea, the east of Gilead and the Hauran and Palmyra, to the Euphrates. 
East of this line was Arabia (see chap. xxv.). 

2 The full history of the word is this : — Philistines, DTlfc^S or D^D^S 
is rendered by the LXX. in the Hexateuch (pykierielfx ; cf. I Mace. iii. 24, 
Sirach xlvi. 18. From this Josephus has the adjective <pv\ia-Tivos, i. Antt. 
vi. 2. But his usual form is ira\ai<TTivos. He also knows the noun 
H HakaiCTlvri, and uses it himself of Philistia, xiii. Antt. v. 10 : ' Simeon 
traversed Judah /ecu ttjv HaKaiaTlvrjy up to Askalon.' Cf. i. Antt. vi. 2 : 
1 The country from Gaza to Egypt . . . the Greeks call part of that country 
Palestine.' But in Contra Apion, i. 22, he quotes Herodotus as using the 
name in the wider sense inclusive of Judaea. Herodotus, who describes 
Syria as extending from Cilicia to Mount Carius, distinguishes the Phoenicians 
from the "ZvpLOi oi kv t# Ila\a.tcrTli>7), or oi HahaioTlvoi KaKeb/xevoL (ii. 104 ; 
iii. 5, 91 ; vii. 89), and defines it as tt)s XvpLrjs tovto rb x w P^ 0V Kai T ^> 
fttxpi klyvirrov ttSLp HaXaLarii'T) /ca\e/Tou. Arrian {Anabasis, ii. 25) speaks 
of 77 2j6pir} UaXaiaTlvq. Syria was divided into S. Palestina, S. Punica, and 
S. Coela ; Herod, i. 105. Palestine was made a separate province, 67 a.d- 



Syria's Place in History 



5 



more probably geographical and meaning ' sunken ' or 
1 low ' land. It seems to have at first belonged to the 
Phoenician coast as distinguished from the hills above. 
But thence it extended to other lowlands — Sharon, the 
Jordan valley, and so over the whole country, mountain 
as well as plain. 1 

The historical geography of Syria, so far as her rela- 
tions with the rest of the world are concerned, may be 
summed up in a paragraph. Syria is the summary of 
northern and most fertile end of the great g e e o ^° r ^J 
Semitic home — the peninsula of Arabia. But s > rria - 
the Semitic home is distinguished by its central position 
in geography — between Asia and Africa, and between 
the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, which is 
Europe ; and the rdle in history of the Semitic race has 
been also intermediary. The Semites have been the 
great middlemen of the world. Not second-rate in war, 
they have risen to the first rank in commerce and reli- 
gion. They have been the carriers between East and 
West, they have stood between the great ancient civilisa- 
tions and those which go to make up the modern world ; 
while by a higher gift, for which their conditions neither 
in place nor in time fully account, they have been mediary 
between God and man, and proved the religious teachers 
of the world, through whom have come its three highest 
faiths, its only universal religions. Syria's history is her 

1 Land of Canaan is applied in the Tell-el-Amarna Correspondence of the 
14th cent. B.C. (Tab., Berlin, 92) to the Phoenician coast, and later by Egyp- 
tians to all W. Syria. Acc. to Jos. xi. 3, there were Canaanites. east and west 
of the land ; acc. to Jud. i. 9, all over, in the Mount, Negeb, and Shephelah 
and (ver. 10) in Hebron. It was the spread of the Canaanites that spread 
the name. In Isa. xix. 18, the lip of Canaan is the one language spoken in 
Palestine, of which Phoenician, Hebrew, Moabite, etc., were only dialects. 
In Zech. xiv. 21, probably Canaanite = Phoenician = merchant. 



6 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



share in this great function of intermedium, which has 
endured from the earliest times to the present day. 

To put it more particularly, Syria lies between two con- 
tinents — Asia and Africa ; between two primeval homes of 
men — the valleys of the Euphrates and the Nile ; between 
two great centres of empire — Western Asia and Egypt : 
between all these, representing the Eastern and ancient 
world, and the Mediterranean, which is the gateway to 
the Western and modern world. Syria has been likened 
to a bridge between Asia and Africa — a bridge with the 
desert on one side and the sea upon the other ; and, in 
truth, all the great invasions of Syria, with two ex- 
ceptions, have been delivered across her northern and 
southern ends. But these two exceptions — the invasions 
of Israel and Islam — prove the insufficiency of the bridge 
simile, not only because they were but the highest waves 
of an almost constant tide of immigration which has 
flowed upon Syria from Arabia, but because they repre- 
sent that gift of religion to her, which in its influence on 
her history far exceeds the influence of her central posi- 
tion. Syria is not only the bridge between Asia and 
Africa : she is the refuge of the drifting populations of 
Arabia. She has been not only the highroad of civilisa- 
tions and the battle-field of empires, but the pasture and 
the school of innumerable little tribes. She has been not 
merely an open channel of war and commerce for nearly 
the whole world, but the vantage-ground and opportunity 
of the world's highest religions. In this strange mingling 
of bridge and harbour, of highroad and field, of battle- 
ground and sanctuary, of seclusion and opportunity — ren- 
dered possible through the striking division of her surface 
into mountain and plain — lies all the secret of Syria's 



Syria's Place in History 



7 



history, under the religion which has lifted her fame to 
glory. As to her western boundary, no invasion, save of 
hope, ever came over that. Even when the nations of 
Europe sought Palestine, their armies did not enter by 
her harbours till the coast was already in their posses- 
sion. But across this coast she felt from the first her 
future to lie ; her expectation went over the sea to isles 
and mainlands far beyond her horizon ; and it was into 
the West that her spiritual empire — almost the only 
empire Syria ever knew — advanced upon its most glorious 
course. 

In all this there are four chief factors of which it will 
be well for us to have some simple outline before we go 
into details. These are — Syria's Relations to Arabia, from 
which she drew her population ; her position as Debate- 
able Ground between Asia and Africa, as well as between 
both of these and Europe ; her Influence Westwards ; her 
Religion. These outlines will be brief. They are meant 
merely to introduce the reader to the extent and the 
interest of the historical geography which he is beginning, 
as well as to indicate our chief authorities. 

I. The Relation of Syria to Arabia. 

We have seen that Syria is the north end of the 
Arabian world, that great parallelogram which is bounded 
by the Levant with Mount Taurus, the Euphrates with the 
Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea with the 
Isthmus of Suez. Within these limits there is a wonderful 
uniformity of nature : the mass of the territory is high, 
barren table-land, but dotted by oases of great fertility, 
and surrounded by a lower level, most of which is also 



8 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



fertile. 1 The population is all Semitic. It is very nume- 
rous for so bare a land, and hardy and reproductive. But 
it is broken up into small tribes, with no very definite 
territories. These tribes have gone forth united as a 
nation only at one period in their history, and that was 
the day of Islam, when their dominion extended from 
India to the Atlantic. At all other times they have 
advanced separately, either by single tribes or a few 
tribes together. Their outgoings were four — across the 
Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb into Ethiopia, across the Isthmus 
of Suez into Egypt, across the Euphrates into Mesopo- 
tamia, across the Jordan into Western Syria. Of these, 
Syria became the most common receptacle of the Arabian 
drift. She lay, so to speak, broadside-on to the desert ; 
part of her was spread east of the Jordan, rolling off unde- 
fended into the desert steppes ; she was seldom protected 
by a strong government, like Egypt and Mesopotamia ; 
and so in early times she received not only the direct 
tides of the desert, but the backwash from these harbours 
as well. Of this the Hebrews were an instance, who 
came over to her, first from Mesopotamia and then 
from Egypt. The loose humanity of the Semitic world 
has, therefore, been constantly beating upon Syria, and 
The Arabian almost as constantly breaking into her. Of 
immigrations. the tribes who crosse< j her border, some flowed 

in from the neighbourhood only for summer, and ebbed 
again with autumn, like the Midianites in Gideon's day, 
or the various clans of the 'Aneezeh in our own. But 

1 The coast of the Indian Ocean open to the monsoons, with part of the 
coasts of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, Syria, the slopes of Taurus, and the 
Euphrates valley, are fertile. The rest of the Persian Gulf and Red Sea 
coasts, the Isthmus of Suez, and forty miles of the coast of the Levant, art 
desert. 



Syria s Place in History 



9 



others came up out of the centre or from the south of 
Arabia — like the Beni Jafn, for instance, who migrated 
all the way from Yemen in the first Christian century, 
and, being made by the Romans wardens of the eastern 
marches of the Empire, founded in time a great dynasty 
— the Ghassanides. And others came because they had 
been crowded or driven out of the Nile or the Euphrates 
valley, like the Syrians, the Philistines, and the Children 
of Israel. 

Thus Syria was peopled. Whenever history lights up 
her borders we see the same process at work : when 
Israel crosses the Jordan ; when the Midianites follow 
and oppress her ; when, the Jews being in exile, the 
Idumeans come up on their seats ; when the Decapolis 
is formed as a Greek league to keep the Arabs out ; when 
the Romans, with their wonderful policy, enrol some of 
the immigrants to hold the others in check ; especially 
at the Moslem invasion ; but also during the Latin king- 
dom of Jerusalem, when various nomadic tribes roaming 
certain regions with their tents are assigned to the 
Crown or to different Orders of Chivalry; 1 and even 
to-day, when parts of the Survey Map of Their Cease- 
Palestine are crossed by the names of the lessness - 
Beni Sab, the Beni Humar, the 'Arab-el-'Amarin, and so 
forth, just as the map of ancient Palestine is distributed 
among the B'ne Naphtali, the B'ne Joseph, the B'ne 
Jehudah, and other clans of Israel. All these, ancient 
and modern, have been members of the same Semitic 
race. Some of them have carried Syria by sudden war ; 
others have ranged for a long time up and down the 

1 Prutz, Z.D. P. V., x. 192, mentions so many ' tents ' or 1 tribes ' as assigned 
to the Order of St. John, and argues that the rest belonged to the king. 



ro The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Syrian border, or settled peacefully on the more neglected 
parts of the land, till gradually they were weaned from 
their pastoral habits, and drawn in among the agricultural 
population. To-day you do not see new tribes coming 
up from the centre or other end of Arabia to invade 
Syria ; but you do see a powerful tribe like the Ruwalla, 
for instance, ranging every year between the Euphrates 
and the Jordan ; or smaller clans like the Ta'amirah of the 
Judaean wilderness, or the 'Ad wan of Moab, after living 
for centuries by extorting blackmail from the fellahin^ 
gradually themselves take to agriculture, and submit to 
the settled government of the country. 1 

From all this have ensued two consequences: — 
First. The fact that by far the strongest immigration 
into Syria has been of a race composed of small inde- 
Syria's Popu- pendent tribes, both suits and exaggerates the 
lation tribal tendencies of the land itself. Syria, as we 
shall see in the next chapter, is broken up into a number 
of petty provinces, as separated by desert and mountain 
as some of the Swiss cantons are by the Alps. These 
little clans, which swarmed out of Arabia, fitted the little 
shelves and corners of Syria, so that Syria was tribal both 
by her form and by the character of her population. It is 
partly this, and partly her position between great and hostile 
races, which have disabled her from political empire. 

Second. The population of Syria has always been essen- 
tially Semitic. There are few lands into which so many 
divers races have come : as in ancient times 

and Semitic. . TT . . , . , 

Philistines and Hittites ; then in very large 
numbers, Greeks ; then with the Crusades a few hundred 
thousands of Franks ; then till the present day more 

1 For the present successful policy of the Turks in this, see ch. xxiv. 



Syria s Place in History 



1 1 



Franks, more Greeks, Turks, Kurds, and some colonies 
of Circassians. But all these have scarcely even been 
grafted on the stock ; 1 and the stock is Semitic. The 
Greek has been the one possible rival of the Semite ; but 
Greeks have inhabited only cities, where the death-rate 
exceeds the birth-rate, and, were they not renewed from 
abroad, they would disappear in the general mass of the 
Arab or Syrian population. 2 

II. Syria's Relation to the three Continents. 

When the Arabian tribes came up from their desert 
into Syria, they found themselves on the edge of a great 
highroad and looking across a sea. The highroad is that 
between Asia and Africa ; the sea is that which leads 
from the East to Europe. From one of the most remote 
positions on the earth they were plunged into the midst of 
the world's commerce and war. While this prevented 
them from consolidating into an empire of their own, it 
proved the opportunity and development of the marvel- 
lous gifts which they brought with them from their age- 
long seclusion in the desert. 

Syria's position between two of the oldest homes of the 

1 In face of the fair hair and blue eyes you often meet in Bethlehem and in 
the Lebanon, it is too much to say with Socin (Art. 'Syria,' Encyc. Brit.) 
' that every trace of the presence of Greeks, Romans, and Franks has 
completely disappeared.' 

2 ' In Eastern cities the death-rate habitually exceeds the birth-rate, and the 
urban population is maintained only by constant recruital from the country, 
so that it is the blood of the peasantry which ultimately determines the type 
of the population. Thus it is to be explained that after the Arab conquest of 
Syria the Greek element in the population rapidly disappeared. Indeed, one 
of the most palpable proofs that the populations of all the old Semitic lands 
possessed a remarkable homogeneity of character is the fact that in them, and 
in them alone, the Arabs and Arab influence took permanent root' — Robertson 
Smith, Religion oj the Semites, 12, 13. 



12 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



human race made her the passage for the earliest inter- 
course and exchanges of civilisation. There is probably 
no older road in all the world than that which is still 
used by caravans from the Euphrates to the Nile, through 
Damascus, Galilee, Esdraelon, the Maritime 
Asia and Plain, and Gaza. It is doubtful whether his- 
tory has to record any great campaigns — as 
distinguished from tribal wars — earlier than those which 
Egypt and Assyria waged against each other across 
the whole extent of Syria, and continued to wage down 
to the sixth century before Christ. But more distant 
powers than these broke across this land from both 
Asia and Africa. The Hittites came south from Asia 
Minor over Mount Taurus, and the Ethiopians came 
north from their conquest of the Nile. 1 Towards the 
end of the great duel between Assyria and Egypt, the 
Scythians from north of the Caucasus devastated Syria. 2 
When the Babylonian Empire fell, the Persians made her 
a province of their empire, and marched across her to 
Egypt. At the beginning of our era, she was overrun 
by the Parthians. 8 The Persians invaded her a second 
time, 4 just before the Moslem invasion of the seventh 
century ; she fell, of course, under the Seljuk Turks in 
the eleventh ; 5 and in the thirteenth and fourteenth the 
Mongols thrice swept through her. 6 

Into this almost constant stream of empires and races, 
which swept through Syria from the earliest ages, Europe 

1 2 Chron. xiv. 9. 

2 Alluded to Zeph. ii. ; Jer. i. 14 ff. Cf. Herodotus i. 104 ff. 

8 40 B.C. 4 612-616 A.D., under Chosroes II. 5 1070-1085. 

6 In 1240 Syrians and Crusaders stood together to beat back the Khares- 
mians ; a second Mongol invasion took place in 1260, and a third in 1400 
under Timur, which repeated the exportations of early Assyrian days, and 
carried off the effective classes of Damascus and other towns to Samarcand. 



Syria s Place in History 13 



was drawn under Alexander the Great ; and now that the 
West began to invade the East, Syria was found to be as 
central between them as between Asia and Between Europe 
Africa. She was Alexander's pathway to andtheEast - 
Egypt, 332 B.C. She was scoured during the following 
centuries by the wars of the Seleucids and Ptolemies, 
and her plains were planted all over by their essentially 
Greek civilisation. Pompey brought her under the Roman 
Empire, B.C. 65, and in this she remained till the Arabs 
took her, 634 A.D. The Crusaders held her for a century, 
1098- 1 187, and parts of her for a century more : coming 
to her, not, like most other invaders, because she was the 
road to somewhere else, but because she was herself, in 
their eyes, the goal of all roads, the central and most 
blessed province of the world, and yet but repeating upon 
her the old contest between East and West. Napoleon the 
Great made her the pathway of his ambition towards 
that empire on the Euphrates and Indus whose fate was 
decided on her plains, 1799. Since then, Syria's history 
has mainly consisted in a number of sporadic attempts 
on the part of the Western world to plant upon her both 
their civilisation and her former religion. 

Thus Syria has been a land in which history has very 
largely repeated itself ; and if we believe that history 
never repeats, without explaining, itself, we shall see the 
value of all these invasions from Asia, Africa, and Europe 
for illustrating that part of Syrian history which is more 
especially our interest. What, then, are our authorities 
for them all ? 

Many of these invasions have left on the land no trace 
which is readable by us, but others have stamped their 
impression both in monuments, which we can decipher, 



14 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



and in literature. Of monuments, Hittites, 1 Assyrians, and 
Egyptians have each left a very few — upon stones north 

of the Lebanon, on the rocks by the old coast 
and Assyrian road at the mouth of the Dog River, 2 on a 

solitary stone near the highroad across the 
Hauran, 3 on a clay tablet found the other day at Lachish, 4 
and in some other fragments. But in the Egyptian and 
Assyrian annals we have itineraries through Syria, and 
records of conquest, most profuse and informing. 5 The 
only records left by the Antiochi and Ptolemies, besides 
the names of certain towns, with a few inscriptions, are 
coins, still occasionally picked up by the traveller. 6 On the 
other hand, Greece and Rome have left their monuments 
Greek and over tne whole land, but especially on the 
Roman. plains and plateaus : in Lebanon solitary Greek 
temples, with inscriptions to the gods of Greece and the 
native gods ; but across Jordan whole cities, with all the 
usual civil architecture of theatres, amphitheatres, forums, 
temples, baths, and colonnaded streets. Yet you will see 
none earlier than the time Rome threw her shield between 

1 Wright, Empire df the Hittites ; Conder, Heth and Moab ; Sayce's 
Races of the Old Testament ; Leon de Lantsheeres, De la race et de la langue 
des Hittites, Bruxelles, 1891 ; V. Luschan, etc., Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli, 
I. Einl. v. Inschriften, Berlin, 1893 ( not seen). 

2 Robinson, Later B. R., 618 ff. ; Layard, Discov. in Nineveh, etc., 21 1 n. ; 
Conder, Syrian Stone Lore, 56, 124. 3 Z.D.P. V. xii. 

4 Conder, Tell-el-Amarna Tablets. P.E.F.Q., 1893, Jan. 

6 Lepsius' Denkmdler aus Aegypten; Records of the Past, esp. Second 
Series, with Sayce on Tell-el-Amarna Tablets ; Tomkins on Campaigns of 
Thothmes III. ; recent papers on these subjects in the P.E.F.Q. and Trans, 
of the Society cf Biblical A reflexology ', Conder, Tell-el-Amarna Tablets, 1893. 
Above all, W. Max Muller, Asien u. Europa n. altdgyp. Denkmdler, 1893. 

6 The authorities on these are : — Gough's Coins of the Seleucidce, with 
Historical Memoirs, London, 1803 ; Gardner, Catalogue of Coins in tht 
British Museum ; The Seleucid Kings of Syria, London, 1878 ; De Saulcy 
in Melanges de Numismatique (pp. 45-64) ; and, of course, the relevant 
secUons in Eckhel, Doclriua numorum vettrum, and in MionneU 



Syria 's Place in History 



15 



the Greek civilisation and the Arab drift from the desert. 
There are Roman pavements, bridges, and milestones ; 
tombstones of legionaries and officials ; imperial and provin- 
cial edicts; ascriptions of glory and deity to the emperors. 1 
The ruins of the buildings of Herod the Great which sur- 
vive at Samaria, Caesarea, and elsewhere are all of Greek 
character, and must be added to the signs of Western 
influence, which found so strenuous an ally in that extra- 
ordinary Idumean. Coins also abound from this period 
— imperial coins and those of the free Greek cities. 2 

Through all these ages the contemporary Hebrew, 
Greek, and Latin literatures supplement the monuments. 
The historical books of the Old Testament, in the form in 
which we have them, were composed some centuries after 
the earliest events of which they treat ; but, so far as their 
geography is concerned, they reflect with wonderful accu- 
racy the early invasions and immigrations into The Evidence 
Syria, which we have other means of following. of the Blble - 
In the Hebrew prophets we have contemporary evidence 

1 The fullest collection of inscriptions is found in vol. iii. of Le Bas and 
Waddington, Inscriptions Grccques et Latines, recueillies en Grhe et en 
Asie Mineure ; text in pt. i., transcriptions and expositions in pt. ii. Cf. 
Wetzstein, Ausgewdhlte Griech. u. Lat. Inschriften gesammelt auf Reisen 
in den Trachonen u. um das Haurangebirge, from the Transactions of the 
Royal Acad, of Sciences, Berlin, 1863, with a map ; Clermont-Ganneau, 
Recueil d' ' Archeologie Orientale, Paris, 1888, and various papers in the 
P.E.F.Q.-, Mordtmann in the Z.D.P.V. vii. 119-124; Allen, 'On Various 
Inscriptions discovered by Merrill on the East of the Jordan,' in the 
American Journal of Philology, vi.; Rendell Harris, Some recently Dis- 
covered Inscriptions', my own paper in the Critical Review, Jan. 1892, on 
'Some Unpublished Inscriptions from the Hauran,' twelve in all, which I 
have republished in the end of this book. For any relevant Semitic in- 
scriptions, see the Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, Paris, 1881 ff. 
Cf. Mommsen, Provinces of the Roman Empire. 

* These are still being found in considerable numbers. The authorities 
are : — F. de Saulcy, Numismatique de la Terre Sainte, Paris, 1874 : 
Madden, Coins of the Jews (in part) ; Eckhel, and Mionnet. 



1 6 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



of the Assyrian, Egyptian, Scythian, Babylonian, and 
Persian invasions : to all these the pages of prophecy 
are as sensitive as the reed-beds of Syria are to the 
passage of the wind and the flood. Later books, 
like Daniel and Ecclesiastes, and fragments of books, 
like some Psalms, betray by their style of thought, 
and by their language, that Israel has felt the first 
Greek influences. The books of the Maccabees and 
Josephus trace for us the course of Greek and Roman 
advance, the long struggle over plain and mountain — the 
Hellenisation of the former, the final conquest of the 
latter by Rome. The Gospels are full of signs of the 
Roman supremacy — publicans, taxes, Caesar's superscrip- 
tion on coins, the centurions, the incubus of the Legion, 
the authority of Caesar. The Acts tell us how upon the 
west of Jordan Rome defended Christianity from Judaism, 
as upon the east she shielded Hellenism from the desert 
barbarians. In Pagan literature we have by this time 
many histories and geographies with large information 
about the Graeco-Roman influence in Syria up to the 
Fall of Jerusalem. 1 

For the first six centuries of our era Syria was a province 
of the Empire, in which, for a time, Hellenism was more at 
Early Chris- home than in Hellas itself, and Christianity 
tian Records. was ^ rst p ersecu t e d and then established by 
Western edicts and arms. The story of this is told 
by the Syrian and Greek historians of the Church, the 

1 Polybius passim', Diodorus Sicuius ; Adrian's Anabasis of Alexander, ii.; 
Quintus Curtius, iv. ; Strabo's Geog/aphy, especially xvi. 2, and Ptolemy's; 
Geographi Grceci Minores (edd., Hudson, Oxford, 1698-1712, and Miiller, 
Paris, 1855-61); Pliny's Hist. Nat., v. 13-19; Tacitus. In English, cf. Gibbon; 
Mommsen's Provinces of the Roman Empire ; Schurer's Hist, of the Jewish 
People in the Time of Christ, Eng., 1890 fif. ; Morrison's The Jews under 
Roman Rule, 1890 ; Mahaffy, The Greek World under Roman Sway, 1 890. 



Syria s Place in History 



lives of some saints, and some writings of the Fathers. 1 
It is supplemented by the Christian remains (especially 
east of the Jordan), churches, tombs, and houses, with 
many inscriptions in Greek and Aramaeic. 2 The latest 
Greek inscription in Eastern Palestine appears to be from 
a year or two after the Moslem invasion. 

The next European settlement in Syria was very much 
more brief. The Latin kingdom of Jerusalem de facto 
lasted from 1099 to 11 87 — not ninety years ; Authorities on 
and the coast was Western a century longer. the Crusades - 
All the more are we astonished at the impression left on 
the land. In their brief day, these few hundred thousands 
of colonists and warriors, though the sword was never out 
of their hand, organised the land into a feudal kingdom as 
fully assigned, cultivated, and administered as any part of 
contemporary France or England. Their chroniclers 3 do 
justice to their courage and exploits on the field, as well 
as to their treachery, greed, and lust : but to see how truly 
they made Syria a bit of the West, we need to go to that 
wonderful work, the Assizes of ferusalem, to the documents 

1 Eusebius, History of the Church and Life of Constantine. The History 
was continued by Socrates for the years 306-439, by Sozomen largely in imita- 
tion of Socrates, and by Theodoret and Evagrius to 594. Stephanus Byzan- 
tinus (probably in Justinian's reign) wrote the 'Edvuca, of which we have 
only an epitome. The history of Zosimus is that of the Roman Empire 
from Augustus to 410. Jerome's Letters and his Commentaries, passim. 
The lives especially of Hilarion, by Jerome, and of Porphyry in the Acta 
Sanctorum. See ch. xi. 2 See ch. xxviii. 

3 The best are William, Archbishop of Tyre (1 1 74- 1 1 88 ?), Historia rerum 
in partibus transmarinis gestarum a tempore successorum Mahumeth usque 
ad a.d. 1 184 ; Geoffrey Vinsauf, Ltinerarium Regis Anglorum Richardi ; 
Bongars' Gesta Dei per Francos ; Jacques de Vitry ; De Joinville's Memoirs 
of Louis LX. From the Saracen side, Boha-ed-Din's Life of Saladin, with 
excerpts from the History of Abulfeda, etc., ed. Schultens, 1732 ; and Imad- 
ed-Din, El-Katib el Isfahani ; Conquete de la Syrie et de la Palestine, public* 
par le Comte Carlo de Landberg : 1., Texte Arabe. Leyden, 1888. 

B 



1 8 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



of the great Orders of Chivalry, 1 and to the buildings 
they have scattered all over the land. 2 

The pilgrim literature, which, apart from trade, repre- 
sents the sole connection between the West and Syria in 
Pilgrims and tne centuries between the Moslem invasion 
Traders. anc j Crusades and between the Crusades 
and last century, is exceedingly numerous. Most of it, too, 
is accessible in modern translations. 3 After the Crusades 
the Venetians and Genoese continued for a century or 
two their factories on the Phoenician coast, by which the 
products of the Far East came to Europe. 4 

1 The authorities here are : — E. Rey, Les Colonies Franques de Syrie, aux 
xii mt et xiii»* Sikhs, Paris, 1883 ; Prutz, Entwickelung v. Untergang des 
Tetnpel-Herren Ordens, Berlin, 1888 (not seen) ; Prutz's and Rohricht's papers 
on the Charters, Papal Bulls, and other documents referring to the Orden der 
Deutsch Herren and other Orders in Z.D.P. V., vols. viii. and x. See also 
Conder's papers in the P.E.F.Q., vols. 1889 ff. The best edition of the 
Assizes of Jerusalem, by John dTbelin, is Beugnot's in Recueil des Historiens 
des Croisades (Paris, 1841-1881). On the Crusades generally, cf. Gibbon; 
Cox's little manual in the Epochs of History ; Sybel, Geschichte der Kreuzziige ; 
Karten u. Plane zur Palastina-kunde aus dem 7 bis 10 Jahrhundert, by 
Rernhold Rohricht, i., ii., and iii., in Z.D.P. V., vols. xiv. and xv. ; 
Rohricht's Regesta Regni Hierosolymitani, 1893 (not seen). 

2 On Crusading masonry, see Conder in the P.E.F. Mem., Samaria under 
Csesarea, and Judsea under Ascalon. On the fortresses, see Rey, op. cit. 
< h. vii., with plans and views. On the churches, De Vogue, E\glises de la 
Ferre Sainte ; cf. his Architecture civile et religieuse de la Syrie. 

! In Bohn's Early Travels in Palestine ; the translations of the Palestine 
Pilgrims' Text Society ; Tobler's Itineraria Hierosolymitana ; the French 
Archives de la Societe d" Orient Latin ; Carmoly's Itineraires de la Terre 
Sainte des xiii nu -xvii ,ne siecles, Bruxelles, 1847. I have also found it useful 
to consult Reyssbuch des heiligen Landes, das ist eine grundtliche Be- 
schreibung aller u. jeder Meer u. Bilgerfahrten zum hey I. Lande, etc. etc., 
Franckfort am Mayn, MDLXXXIII. ; the indispensable Quaresmius, Historica, 
Theologica et Mora lis Terra: Sancte Elucidatio, Antwerp, 1639 ; and Pietri 
Delia Valle's Reisebeschreibung, translated from the Italian, Genff, 1674, but 
only a few of his ' Sendschreiben ' refer to Syria. 

4 Besides Rey, who treats of the commerce of the Crusades {op. cit. ch. ix.), 
the only authorities I know of are Heyd, Geschichte des Levant ehande Is im Mit- 
te!alter y Stuttgart, 1 879, 2 vols. ; in French, much enlarged, Leipzig, 1S85-86, 
2 vols: and Discorso sopra il ' Commercio degli Italiani nel sec. xiv., Roma, 1818. 



Syria s Place in History 



19 



Of Napoleon's invasion we have very full information, 
which not only illustrates the position of Syria as debatable 
ground between the East and the West, but is Napoleon's 
especially valuable for the light it throws upon Inva sion. 
the military geography of the Holy Land. One cannot 
desire a more comprehensive, a more lucid, outline of the 
relations of Syria to Egypt, to Asia, to Europe, than is 
given in the memoirs of his campaigns, dictated by 
Napoleon himself ; 1 while the accounts of his routes and 
the reasons given for them, his sieges, his losses from 
the plague, and his swift retreat, enable us to understand 
the movements of even the most ancient invaders of the 
land. Napoleon's memoirs may be supplemented by the 
accounts of the English officers who were with the Turkish 
forces. 2 

The European invasion of Syria, which belongs to oui 
own day, is already making its impression on the land. 
Nothing surprised the writer more, on his 

• r, r Present Influ 

return to the Holy Land in 189 r, after an ence of Europe 
interval of eleven years, than the great in- onSyna * 
crease of red and sloping roofs in the landscape. These 
always mean the presence of Europeans : and where they 
appear, and the flat roofs beloved of Orientals are not 
visible, then the truly Western aspect of nature in the Hoi)' 
Land asserts itself, and one begins to understand how 
Greeks, Italians, and Franks all colonised, and for cen- 
turies were at home in, this province of Asia. The Temple 
Christians from Wiirttemberg have perhaps done more to 
improve the surface of the country than any other Western 

1 Guerre de f Orient : Campagnes cCJigypte et de Syrie. Memoires dictees 
par Napoleon lui-meme et publiees par General Bertrand, Paris, 1847. 

2 Walsh, Diary of the late Campaign^ iygg-i8oi; Wittman, M.D., Traveli 
m Syria, etc., iygQ-iSoi* . . . in company with the Turkish Army. 



20 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



agency. 1 A Roman Catholic colony has been planted on 
the shores of the Lake of Galilee. There is an agricultural 
settlement for Jews near Jaffa, another colony at Artuf, 
and the Rothschild settlements above Lake Huleh. The 
Plain of Esdraelon is in the hands of a Greek capitalist. 
Other Western settlers are scattered over Palestine and 
Lebanon, and almost everywhere the cultivation of the 
vine and the silk-worm is spreading rapidly under Euro- 
pean care. Large Circassian colonies, planted by the 
Turkish Government itself near Caesarea and east of Jordan, 
must in time considerably affect both the soil and the 
population about them. 2 But the most important material 
innovation from the West is the railway. The line just com- 
pleted between Jaffa and Jerusalem will be useful, it seems, 
only for pilgrims. Much more effect on the future of Syria 
may be expected from the line which follows the natural 
routes of commerce and war through the land from Haifa 
to Damascus. 3 Not only will it open up the most fertile 
parts of the country, and bring back European civilisation 
to where it once was supreme, on the east of Jordan ; 
but if ever European arms return to the country — as, in 
a contest for Egypt or for the Holy Places, when may they 

1 On these interesting colonies see their journal, Die Warte des Tempels ; 
papers in recent volumes of the Z.D.P. V. ; and the account of them in Ross, 
Cradle of Christianity, London, 1 89 1. 

2 Their three chief colonies are Caesarea, Jerash, and Rabbath Ammon, 
the last two of which I visited in 1891. The Government plays them and 
the Beduin off against each other. They are increasing the area of cultivated 
land, and improving the methods of agriculture. Perhaps the greatest change 
is their introduction of wheeled vehicles, which have not been seen in Palestine 
since the Crusades except within the last twenty years, when they have been 
confined to the Jaffa-Jerusalem and Beyrout-Damascus roads and the Temple 
colonies. See Appendix on 'Roads and Wheeled Vehicles.' 

3 Across Esdraelon, over the Jordan by Bethshan, round the south-east 
corner of the Lake of Galilee to opposite Tiberias, then up the gorge of Fik 
to the plateau of the Hauran, and so to Damascus. 



Syria s Place in History 



2 I 



not return ? — this railway running from the coast across 
the central battle-field of Palestine will be of immense 
strategic value. 1 



III. Syria's Opportunity Westward. 

In the two previous sections of this chapter we have 
seen Syria only in the passive state, overrun by those 
Arabian tribes who have always formed the stock of her 
population, and traversed, conquered and civilised by the 
great races of Asia, Africa, and Europe. But in the 
two remaining sections we are to see Syria in the active 
state — we are to see these Arab tribes, who have made 
her their home, pushing through the single opportunity 
given to them, and exercising that influence in which 
their glory and hers has consisted. It will be best to 
describe first the Opportunity, and then the Influence 
itself — which, of course, was mainly that of religion. 

In early times Syria had only one direction along which 
she could exercise an influence on the rest of the world. 
We have seen that she had nothing to give Syria's Single 
to the great empires of the Nile and Euphra- °P enm &- 
tes on either side of her ; from them she could be only 
a borrower. Then Mount Taurus, though no barrier to 
peoples descending upon Syria from Asia Minor, seems 
always to have barred the passage in the opposite direc- 
tion. The Semitic race has never crossed Mount Taurus. 

1 The European missionary and educational establishments fall rather undei 
the section of Religion. 



22 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Practically, therefore, early Syria's only opening lay sea- 
wards. If she had anything to pour forth of her own, or 
of what she had borrowed from the civilisations on either 
side of her, this must be the direction of outflow. So some 
of her tribes, whose race had hitherto been known only as 
land traders, voyagers of the desert, pushed out from her 
coasts upon the sea. They found it as studded with 
islands as the desert is studded with oases, and by means 
Df these they gradually reached the very west of Europe. 

The first of these islands is within sight of Syria. 
Cyprus is clearly visible from the hills of northern Syria 
immediately opposite to it, and at certain sea- 

The Mediter- 7 vv ' 

ranean sons of the year may even be descried from 

Islands. J / 

Lebanon above Beirut. 1 From Cyprus the 
coast of Asia Minor is within reach, and the island of 
Rhodes at the beginning of the Greek Archipelago ; 
whence the voyage was easy, even for primitive naviga- 
tion, to the Greek mainland, Sicily, Malta, the African 
coast, Spain and the Atlantic, or north by Italy to Sar- 
dinia, Corsica and the coast of Gaul. Along those islands 
and coasts the line of Phoenician voyages can be traced 
by the deposit of Semitic names, inscriptions and legends. 2 

1 See ch. vii., on the Coast. 

2 For the Phoenician inscriptions in Cyprus, Rhodes, Sicily, Malta, 
Carthage, Sardinia, Spain, and Marseilles, see the Corpus Inscriptionum 
Semiticarum, vol. i. part i. For names, take the following as instances : — 
Kition, in Cyprus, is the Hebrew Chittim (see ch. vii.). Mount Atabyrus, 
in Rhodes, is Mount Tabor, a Semitic term for height. Here Diodorus tells 
us Zeus was worshipped as a bull, evidently a trace of the Baal-Moloch 
worship. On many ^Ege.m islands the worship of Chronos points to the 
same source. The Cyprian Aphrodite herself is just Ashtoreth ; and her 
great feast was at the usual Semitic festival season in the beginning of April, 
her sacrifice a sheep (Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 387). One 
proof of Phoenician influence is the presence of BervKai ( = Beth-el), or sacred 
stones, conical or ovoid pillars. One was in the temple of AuhrMite at 



Syria s Place in History 



23 



It is not surprising that the early Greek civilisation, which 
they did so much to form, should have given the Phoeni- 
cians the fame of inventors. But they were Phoenician 
not much more than carriers. At this early Influence - 
stage of her history Syria had little to give to the West 
except what she had wholly or partly borrowed. Her 
art was Egyptian ; the letters she introduced to Europe 
were from Egyptian sources ; even the commercial terms 
which she brought into the Greek language from Asia may 
not have been her own. But quite original were other 
droppings of her trade on Greece — names of the letters, of 
vegetables, metals, and some wares, 1 and most, though not 
all, of the religion she conveyed. The exact debt of Greek 
religion to Phoenicia will never be known, but the more 
we learn of both races the more we see how big it was. 
Myths, rites, morals, all spread westwards, and formed 
some of the earliest constituents of Greek civilisation. 
The most of the process was probably over before history 
begins, for Tarshish was in existence by 1100 B.C.; and 

Paphos (Tacitus, Hist. ii. 3). In Sicily a Carthaginian coin has been dis- 
covered with the legend 'BARAT'='the wells,' the Phoenician name for 
Syracusa. Farther west, Carthage is Qarta Hadasha, ' the New City ' ; Cadiz, 
or Gades, is Gadira, from 'gadir,' a fenced place (see Bloch's Phoenician 
Glossary). Tarshish is also of Semitic formation, but of doubtful meaning. 
Port Mahon, in Minorca, is from the Carthaginian general, Mago. Among 
the legends are, of course, those of Perseus and Andromeda, Cadmus (from 
'Kedem,' the East), Europa, etc. 

1 The following are some of the Phoenician loanwords in Greek : — The 
names of the letters Alpha, Beta, etc. ; commercial terms, appafiwv, interest 

= |imy; ijwa, weight or coin = HJD; Ki^aWrjs, pirate, from booty. 
The name of at least one animal, = the camel ; names of vegetables 
like vvguttos = ; ^aXaaMov — ; xvirpos, Lawsonia alba = "l!D3 ; \i(3ai>os, 
frankincense tree = Ka<na = ilW£p, etc. etc. ; of other objects, x LTU}v — 

njr)3 (?) ; /c\w/3os, bird-cage = 21^3, etc. The religious term Beri;Xat = sacreH 
stones, is the Semitic Beit-el, or Bethel, 



24 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



perhaps the Phoenician migration and establishment of 
colonies in the West was connected with the disturbances 
in Syria in the fourteenth century. Another important 
emigration took place five centuries later. About 800, 
some fugitives from Tyre founded near an old 

CclX til 3. ^6 . 

Phoenician settlement on the coast of Africa, 
opposite Sicily, another colony called Qarta Hadasha. 
That is almost good Hebrew for ' the New City/ and 
has been corrupted by the Greeks into Carchedon, and 
by the Romans into Carthago. In the sixth century 
Carthage obtained the sovereignty over her sister colonies 
in the West ; 1 and in the fifth century, while the Northern 
East under Persia assailed Greece across Asia Minor, the 
Semitic portion of the East twice assailed Greece across 
Sicily under the leadership of Carthage. 2 The second 
assault was led by one whose name was Hannibal, and 
whose title, like that of all Phoenician magistrates, was 
Shophet. But Shophet is pure Hebrew, the title of 
Israel's rulers from Joshua to Samuel. And Hannibaal 
is just ' the grace of Baal' Put Jah for Baal, and you have 
the Hebrew Hananiah ; or reverse the word, and you have 
Johanan, the Greek Ioannes and our John. 3 The Greek 
colonies in Sicily held their own — held their awn, but did 
not drive the invaders forth. It was reserved for another 
power to do this and keep the Semite out of Europe. 

The first Punic — that is, Poinic, $oivi/cos, Phoenician — 
War, in which Rome engaged, was for Sicily, and Rome 
Her Defeat won expelling the Syrian colonists from 
by Rome. j s i an d j n revenge, Hamilcar crossed 

the Straits of Gibraltar in 237 ; and by 218 his son, 



1 Freeman's Sicily {Story of the Nations series), p. 56. 

2 480-473, and again 413-404. * Cf. Freeman, op. cit., p. 21. 



Syria's Place in History 25 



Hannibal the Great, had conquered Spain, and crossed the 
Alps into Italy. But again it was proved that Europe 
was not to be for the Semites, and Hannibal was driven 
back. By 205 the Romans had conquered the Iberian 
peninsula, passed over into Africa, and made that a 
Roman province. 1 How desperate was the struggle, 
how firmly the Syrians had planted themselves in the 
West, may be seen from the fact that seven hundred years 
after the destruction of Carthage men still talked Punic 
or Phoenician in North Africa ; the Bible itself was trans- 
lated into the language, 2 and this only died out before its 
kindred dialect of Arabic in the eighth century of our era. 

During the glory of Carthage the Phoenician navies, 
crowded out of the eastern Mediterranean by the Greek 
and Italian races, pushed westward through „ , 

' v & Further 

the Straits of Gibraltar to the Canary Isles, 3 to Phoenician 
a strange sea of weeds which may have been 
the same Columbus met towards America, 4 to the west of 
Gaul, the Scilly Isles, 5 and therefore surely to Britain ; 
while an admiral of Tyre, at the motion of Pharaoh Necho, 
circumnavigated Africa in 600 B.C., 6 or 2000 years before 
Vasco da Gama. 

After the fall of Carthage — the fall of Tyre had hap- 
pened a hundred years before — the Phoenician genius 
confined itself to trading, with occasionally a Later 
little mercenary war. Under the Roman Em- Phcenicia - 
pire, Phoenicians were to be found all round the Mediter- 
ranean, with their own quarters and temples in the large 

1 Fifty years later they were interfering in the affairs of the real Phoenicia, 
and one hundred and fifty later they had reduced Syiia to a province also. 

2 Augustine. 3 Diodorus Siculus, v. 19-20 

4 Scylax, Periplus, 112, in the Geographi Grczci Minores (ed. Muller, i. 93) 

5 Cassiterides, or tin islands (Strabo, iii. v. 11). 8 Herodotus, iv. 42 



26 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



towns. When Rome's hold on the East became firm at 
the beginning of our era, Syrians 1 flowed into Italy — as 
Juvenal puts it, the Orontes into the Tiber. There were 
a few good rhetoricians, grammarians, poets and wits 
among them, but the mass were slave-dealers, panders 
and mongers of base superstitions. 

During all this time — from the thirteenth century of the 
old era to the first of the new — there had stood upon the 
highlands immediately behind Phoenicia a nation speaking 
almost identically the same dialect ; and this nation had 
heard the Phoenician tales of those western isles and coasts: 
Israel and °f Chittim, that is, Cyprus, and of Rodan, that 
Phoenicia. i Sj Rhodes; Javan, or the Ionians ; Elissa, 
some farther coast of Sicily or Italy ; and Tarshish, which 
was the limit in Spain. And though this tribe had no 
port of their own, nor were in touch with the sea at all, 
their imagination followed the Phoenician voyages, but 
with a nobler ambition than that of gain, and claimed 
those coast-lands, on which the gross Semitic myths had 
caught, for high ideals of justice, mercy, and the know- 
ledge of the true God. 2 When one has learned the 
impressionableness of the early Greek to the religion 
which Syria sent him by the Phoenicians, and remembers 
how closely Israel stood neighbour to Phoenicia in place, 
in language, in political alliance, one's fancy starts the 
question, What if Phoenicia had also been the carrier of 
Israel's faith, as of Egypt's letters, Babylon's wares and 
the wild Semitic myths ! It was impossible. When 
Phoenicia was still a religious influence in the West, Israel 
either had not arrived in Palestine, or was not so expert 
in the possibilities of her own religion as to commend it 

1 Also Nabateans, cf. C./.S., P. i. torn. ii. 183 ff. 2 Isaiah xlii. 



Syria's Place in History 



27 



to other peoples — though those were her neighbours and 
kinsmen according to the flesh ; and when Israel knew 
herself as God's servant to the whole world, and con- 
ceived Phoenician voyages as means of spreading the 
truth westward, the Phoenicians were no longer the cor- 
respondents, but the enemies, of every other race upon the 
northern and western shores of the Mediterranean. Take, 
for instance, the time of Elijah, when Israel In the time 
and Phoenicia stood together perhaps more ofEll jab. 
closely than at any other period. The slope of religious 
influence was then, not from Israel to Phoenicia, but from 
Phoenicia to Israel. It is the attempt to spread into 
foreign lands che worship of Baal, not the worship of 
Jehovah, that we see. It is Jezebel who is the mission- 
ary, not Elijah ; and the paradox is perfectly intelligible. 
The zeal of Jezebel proceeded from these two conceptions 
of religion : that among the same people several gods 
might be worshipped side by side— Phoenician Baal in the 
next temple to Jehovah of Israel ; and that religion was 
largely a matter of politics. Because she was queen in 
Israel, and Baal was her god, therefore he ought to be one of 
Israel's gods as well. But it is better not to be a mission- 
ary-religion at all than to be one on such principles ; and 
Israel's task just then was to prove that Jehovah was the 
one Mid only God for her own life. If she first proved 
this x)n the only true ground — that He was the God of 
justice and purity — then the time would certainly come 
when He would appear, for the same reason, the God of the 
whole earth, with irresistible claims upon the allegiance of 
Phoenicia and the West. So, with one exception, Elijah 
confined his prophetic work to Israel, and looked seaward 
only for rain. But by Naboth's vineyard and other matters 



28 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



he taught his people so well the utter difference of Jehovah 
from other gods — being as He was identical with righteous- 
ness, and therefore supreme — that it naturally followed 
that Israel should see This was the Deity whose interests, 
whose activity, whose dominion were universal. But that 
carries us into the heart of our next subject, the Religion 
in the later °^ Syria — the inquiry, why Israel alone of 
Prophets. Syrian tribes came to so pure a faith, and so 
sure a confidence of its victory over the world. Let us 
finish this section by pointing out that when the prophets 
of Israel did rise to the consciousness of the universal 
dominion of their religion, it was to Phoenician means — 
those far Phoenician voyages we have been following — 
that they looked for carrying it into effect. To the 
prophets Phoenicia and her influence are a great and a 
sacred thing. They exult in her opportunities, in her 
achievements. Isaiah and Ezekiel bewail the destruction 
of Tyre and her navies as desecration. Isaiah cannot 
believe it to be final. He sees Phoenicia rising purified 
by her captivity to be the carrier of true religion to the 
ends of the earth. 1 



IV. The Religion of Syria. 

We have seen that Syria, Esh-Sham, is but ' the north 1 
end of the Semitic world, and that from the earliest times 
her population has been essentially Semitic. By this it 
was determined that her role in history should be predomi- 
nantly the religious. The Semites are the religious leaders 
of humanity. The three great monotheisms have risen 

1 Isaiah xxiii. : Ezekiel xxvi. ff. 



Syria s Place in History 



29 



among them ; the grandest prophets of the world have 
been their sons. For this high destiny the race were 
prepared by their age-long seclusion in Arabia. 

The Religious 

In the deserts of Arabia, life is wonderfully temper of the 
tempered. Nature is monotonous, the dis- 
tractions are few, the influence of things seen is as weak 
as it may be in this universe ; the long fasts, necessary 
every year, purge the body of its grosser elements, the soul 
easily detaches itself, and hunger lends the mind a curious 
passion, mixed of resignation and hot anger. The only 
talents are those of war and of speech — the latter culti- 
vated to a singular augustness of style by the silence of 
nature and the long leisure of life. 1 It is the atmosphere 
in which seers, martyrs, and fanatics are bred. Conceive 
a race subjected to its influences for thousands of years ) 
To such a race give a creed, and it will be an apostolic 
and a devoted race. 

Now, it has been maintained that the desert did furnish 
the Arab with a creed, as well as with a religious tempera- 
ment. M. Renan has declared that the Semite, living 
where nature is so uniform, must be a monotheist; 2 but 
this thesis has been disproved by every fact Not naturally 
discovered among the Semites since it was Monotheists. 
first promulgated. The Semitic religions, with two excep- 
tions (one of which, Islam, is largely accounted for by the 

1 Our chief authorities for life in Arabia in ancient and modern times are 
such travellers as Ludovico Varthema, who went down with the Haj to Mecca 
in 1503 (Hakluyt Society's publications) ; Burckhardt, Burton, and especially 
Doughty {Arabia Deseria, 2 vols., Cambridge, 1887), who knows the 
Bedawee, ' the unsophisticated Semite,' as never Western did before. Cf. 
Wellhausen, Skizzen, etc. , iii. , Reste des Arabischen Heidentums ; Robertson 
Smith, Marriage and Kinship in Arabia and The Religion of the Semites. 

2 Histoire des langues semitiques, ed. 3, 1863; ' De la part des peuples 
semitiques,' Asiatic Review, Feb. and May 1859 ; and, in a modified form, 
in his Histoire d' ' Isratl, vol. i. 



30 The Histoi'ical Geography of the Holy Land 



other, Judaism), have not been monotheistic. Introduced 
to the Euphrates valley, or to Syria, where the forces of 
nature are as complex and suggestive of many gods as 
any part of the Aryan world itself, the Semite has gone 
the way of the Aryans — nay, has preceded them in this 
way, not only developing a polytheism and mythology 
of great luxuriance, but proving its missionary to the 
Greeks. The monotony of the desert, however, counts 
for something ; the desert does not tempt to polytheism. 
Besides, all Semitic religions have been distinguished by 
a tendency which makes strongly for unity. Within 
each tribe there was but one tribal god, who was bound 
up with his people's existence, and who was their only 
lord and head. This belief was favourable to monotheism. 
It trained men to reduce all things under one cause, to 
fix their attention on a sovereign deity ; and the desert, 
bare and monotonous, conspired with the habit. 

We may, then, replace Renan's thesis, that the Semite 
was a born monotheist, by this: that in the Semitic 
religion, as in the Semitic world, monotheism 
tunity for had a great opportunity. There was no neces- 
sary creed in Arabia, but for the highest form 
of religion there was room and sympathy as nowhere else 
in the world to the same degree. 

Of this opportunity only one Semitic tribe took advan- 
tage, and the impressive fact is that the advantage was 
taken, not in Arabia, but in Syria herself — that 

Uniqueness . . . , 

of Israel's is to say, on the soil whose rich and complex 
Monotheism. f Qrces drew a ^ other Semitic tribes away from 
the austerity of their desert faith, and turned them into 
polytheists of the rankest kind. The natural fertility of 
Syria, as we shall see in a subsequent chapter, intoxicated 



Syria's Place in History 



31 



her immigrants with nature-worship ; the land was 
covered, not by one nation with its one god, but by 
many little tribes, each with its patron and lord ; while, 
to make confusion worse confounded, the influence of the 
powerful idolatries of Egypt and Mesopotamia met and 
were combined upon her. Yet Syria, and not the Desert 
of Arabia, was the cradle of monotheism. The period 
in which this became manifest was, no doubt, one when 
her history for the first time counteracted to some degree 
the variety of her natural charms, the confusion of her 
many faiths. Israel's monotheism became indisputable 
in the centuries from the eighth to the sixth B.C., the 
period of the great Assyrian invasions described in Sec- 
tion II. of this chapter. Before the irresistible Assyrian 
advance the tribal gods of Syria — always identified with 
the stability of their peoples — went down one after another, 
and history became reduced to a uniformity analogous to 
that of nature in the Semitic desert. It was in meeting 
the problems, which this state of affairs excited, that the 
genius of Israel rose to a grasp of the world as a whole, 
and to faith in a sovereign Providence. This Providence 
was not the military Empire that had levelled the world ; 
He was not any of the gods of Assyria. He was Israel's 
own tribal Deity, who was known to the world but as the 
God of the few hills on which His nation hardly main- 
tained herself. Fallen she was as low as her neighbours ; 
taunted she was by them and by her adversaries to 
prove that Jehovah could save her any more than the 
gods of Hamath or Damascus or the Philistines had saved 
them : 1 yet both on the eve of her fall, and in her deepest 
abasement, Israel affirmed that Jehovah reigned ; that He 

1 Isaiah x. S-u ; xxxvi. 18-20 ; xxxvii. 12, 13. 



32 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



was Lord of the hosts of heaven and earth ; that Assyria 
was only a tool in His hand. 

Why did Israel alone rise to this faith ? Why did no 
other of the gods of the Syrian clans, Baals and Molochs, 
take advantage of the opportunity ? Why should the 
people of Jehovah alone see a universal Providence in 
the disasters which they shared, and ascribe it to Him ? 

The answer to these questions is the beginning of Syria's 
supreme rank in the religious history of mankind. It is 
writ, beyond all misreading, in the prophets 

The reason of . ..... - . 

Israel's Mono- of the time and in the history of Israel which 
preceded the prophets. To use their own 
phrase, the prophets saw Jehovah exalted in righteousness. 
And this was not their invention : it had been implicit in 
Israel's conception of Jehovah from a very early age. In 
what are confessedly ancient documents, Jehovah is the 
cause of Israel's being, of the union of their tribes, of their 
coming to Palestine, of their instinct to keep separate from 
other peoples, even when they do not seem to have been 
conscious of a reason why. But from the first this influ- 
ence upon them was ethical. It sifted the great body of 
custom and law which was their common heritage with all 
other Semitic tribes ; it added to this both mercy and 
justice, mitigating the cruelty of some laws, where innocent 
or untried life was in danger, but strenuously enforcing 
others, where custom, greed or tyranny had introduced 
carelessness with regard to the most sacred interests of 
life. 1 We may not always be sure of the dates of these 
laws, but it is past all doubt that the ethical agent at 

1 As, for instance, in the matter of homicide. The contrast of Israel's laws 
on this with the prevailing Semitic customs, is very significant of the ethical 
superiority of Israel. 



Syria's Place in History 33 



work in them was at work in Israel from the beginning, 
and was the character, the justice, the holiness of Jehovah. 
But at first it was not in law so much as in the events of 
the people's history that this character impressed them. 
They knew all along that He had found them, chosen 
them, brought them to the land, borne with them, forgiven 
them, redeemed them in His love and in His pity, so 
that, though it were true that no law had come to them 
from Him, the memory of all He had been to them, the 
influence of Himself in their history, would have remained 
their distinction among the peoples. Even in that rude 
time His grace had been mightier than His law. 

On such evidence we believe the assertion of the 
prophets, that what had made Israel distinct from her 
kinsfolk, and endowed her alone with the solu- 

Revelation. 

tion of the successive problems of history and 
with her high morality, was the knowledge of a real Being 
and intercourse with Him. This is what Revelation means. 
Revelation is not the promulgation of a law, nor the predic- 
tion of future events, nor ' the imparting to man of truths, 
which he could not find out for himself.' All these ideas 
of Revelation are modern, and proved false by the only 
true method of investigation into the nature of Revela- 
tion, viz., a comparison of Scripture with those heathen 
religions from which the religion of Israel sprang, but was 
so differentiated by the Spirit of God. Such a comparison 
shows us that the subject of Revelation is the character 
of God Himself. God had chosen the suitable Semitic 
temper and circumstance to make Himself known through 
them in His righteousness and love for men. This alone 
raised Israel to her mastery of history in the Assyrian 
period, when her political fortunes were as low, and her 

c 



34 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



extinction, humanly speaking, as probable as that of her 
kindred. This alone preserved her in loyalty to her God, 
and in obedience to His law, during the following centuries, 
when the other Syrian peoples gave way to the inrush of 
the Hellenic spirit, and Zeus, Athene, Apollo, Aphrodite 
and the goddesses of Fortune and Victory, displaced, or 
were amalgamated with, the discredited Semitic deities. 

Having solved with the prophets the problem set to 
her faith by the great Oriental empires, Israel entered — 
Israel and u P on the same floor of Syria — on her struggle 
Hellenism. with the stran g er forces of the West, with the 
genius of Hellenism, and with the dominion of Rome. It 
is interesting, but vain, to speculate on what would have 
happened if the Maccabean age had produced a mind like 
Isaiah's or Jeremiah's, or had met Greece with another spirit 
than that of Ecclesiastes, or of the son of Sirach. As it was, 
the age fell far below that of the prophets in insight and in 
faith. The age of the Maccabees is a return to that of the 
Judges and Saul, with the Law as a new inspiration. The 
spiritual yields to the material, though the material is fought 
for with a heroism which makes the period as brilliant as 
any in the history of Israel. For a few years the ideal 
borders of Israel are regained, the law of Moses is imposed 
on Greek cities, the sea is reached, and the hope of Israel 
looks westward from a harbour of her own. 1 The conflict 
with Hellenism intensifies the passion for the Law, the 
conflict with Rome, the passion for the land and political 
independence. In either case it is the material form which 
becomes the main concern of the people. Nevertheless, as 
Paul has taught us to see in his explanation of history, 2 
this devotion to the letter of Law and Prophecy was a 

1 See d. 116. 1 Cf. Robertson Smith, O.T.J. C, 315 ff. 



Syria's Place in History 



35 



discipline for something higher. By keeping the command- 
ments, and cherishing the hopes, in however mechanical a 
way, Israel held herself distinct and pure. And, therefore, 
though she felt the land slipping from under her, and con- 
soled herself, as her hold on this world became less sure, 
with an extraordinary development of apocalypse — visions 
of another world that are too evidently the refuges of her 
despair in this — she still kept alive the divinest elements 
in her religion, the gifts of a tender conscience, and of the 
hope of a new redemption under the promised Messiah. 

He came in Jesus of Nazareth. He came when the 
political estate of Israel was very low. He was born into 
the Empire : He grew up within twenty miles 

r 1 i 1 • i -r» ,i Jesus Christ. 

of the great port by which Rome poured her 
soldiers and officials upon His land. His youth saw 
Herod's embellishment of Palestine with Greek archi- 
tecture. The Hellenic spirit breathed across all the land. 
Jesus felt the might and the advantage of these forces, 
which now conspired to build upon Syria so rich a monu- 
ment of Pagan civilisation. When He had been endowed 
by the Spirit with the full consciousness of what He could 
be, He was tempted, we are told, to employ the marvellous 
resources of Greece and Rome. The Devil taketh Him up 
into an exceeding high mountain and showeth Him all the 
kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. In that day 
such a vision was nowhere in the world so possible as in 
Syria. But He felt it come to Him wedded to apostasy. 
All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and 
worship me. And He replied from the Hebrew Scriptures 
with a confession of allegiance to the God of Israel : Get 
thee behind me, Satan, for it is written, Thou shall worship 
Jehovah thy God, a7id Him only shall tfam serve. Also 



36 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



on other occasions He made an absolute distinction 
between Israel and the Gentiles : Not as the Gentiles, He 
His view of the sa ^> f or a fter all these things do the Gentiles 
Gentile world. see ^ ^ ut y Qur heavenly Father knoweth that ye 

have need of these things. Ye zvorship ye know not what, we 
know what we worship, for the salvation is from the fews. 
I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 

But within Israel and her Scriptures Jesus made great 
distinctions. He said that much of Scripture was tem- 
His judgment porary, given at the time because of the hard- 
of Israel. ness Q f ^ p e0 pi e ' s hearts, laws and customs 
that had passed away with the rise to a new stage in God's 
education of the world. The rest He confirmed, He used 
for feeding His own soul, and for teaching and leading 
others to God. Within the nation, also, He distinguished 
between the true and the false Israel. He insisted that, 
especially of late, Judaism had gone astray, laying too much 
emphasis on the letter of the law, nay, adding intolerably 
to this, and wrongly, foolishly, desiring the external king- 
dom. He insisted on the spiritual as against the external, 
on the moral as against the ceremonial, on grace as above 
law. So the religious authorities were moved against Him. 

But their chief cause of offence — and it has ever since 
been the stumbling-block of many who count His ethical 
His claims teaching supreme — was the claim He made 
for Himself. for Himself. He represented Himself not only 
as the Messiah, but as indispensable to the race ; He not 
only read the whole history of Israel as a preparation for 
Himself, but, looking forward, He claimed to inspire, to 
rule, and to judge all history of men for all time to 
come. A little bit of Syria was enough for His own 
ministry, but He sent His disciples into the whole 



Syria s Place in History 37 



world. Morality He identified with obedience to Himself. 
Men's acceptance by God He made dependent on their 
acceptance of His claims and gifts. He announced the 
forgiveness of sins absolutely, yet connected it with His 
own death. He has given the world its highest idea of God, 
yet He made Himself one with God. He predicted His 
death, and that He should rise again : and to His disciples 
not expecting this He did appear, and, in the power of their 
conviction that God had proved His words and given Him 
the victory over death, He sent them into the whole 
world — the whole world to which every port in Syria, on 
sea or desert, was at that time an open gateway. 

To the story of His life and death, to the testimony 
of His resurrection, to His message from God, the Greek 
world yielded, which had refused to listen to Judaism. All 
the little frontiers and distinctions of Syria melted before 
Him. For the first time, without the force of arms, the 
religion of Israel left the highlands, in which it had been 
so long confined, and flowed out upon the 
plains. With the Book of Acts we are on the spread of 
sea-coast and among Greek cities ; Peter is the Gospel 
cured of his Judaism in Caesarea, and the Holy Ghost 
descends on the Gentiles ; the chief persecutor of the 
Church is converted on pagan soil, at Damascus ; the faith 
spreads to Antioch, and then bursts westward along the 
old Phoenician lines, by Cyprus, the coasts of Asia Minor, 
the Greek isles and mainland, to Italy, Africa, and Spain. 

But Christianity had not yet left Syria. As we shall 
see when we come to visit the Maritime Plain and the 
Hauran, there are no other fields in the world ~ . . 

Christianity 

where the contest of Christianity and Paganism ^ p agan»sm. 
was more critical, or has left more traces. The histories 



38 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



of Eusebius and his followers, the lives of such saints as 
Porphyry and Hilarion, relate in full the missionary 
labours, the persecutions, the martyrdoms, and the am- 
biguous political triumphs of the Church in Philistia and 
the Shephelah. 1 In the indestructible basalt of Hauran 
there are monuments of the passage from Paganism to 
Christianity even more numerous and remarkable than 
the catacombs and ruins of ancient Rome. There are 
Christianity a ^ so wnat Italy cannot give us — the melan- 
and islam. c holy wrecks of the passage from Christianity 
to Mohammedanism. This passage was accomplished 
within a few years. The Mohammedan era began in 
622, Damascus fell in 634, Jerusalem in 637, Antioch in 
638. The last Greek inscription in Hauran is about 640, 
and has no emperor's name, but simply, ' Christ being 
King.' 2 The reasons of this rapid displacement of the one 
religion by the other are very clear. When they met and 
fought for Syria, Christianity was corrupt, and identified 
with a political system that was sapped by luxury and rent 
asunder by national strifes ; Mohammedanism was simple, 
austere, full of faith, united, and not yet so intolerant as 
it afterwards became. Many Christians accepted with 
joy the change of ruler ; few believed that, in the end, he 
would enforce a change of faith as well. But afterwards 
the persecution settled steadily down. The Christians 
were driven to the heights of Lebanon, or were suffered 
to remain only about Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Damascus, 
and a few other localities. 

Then came what we have already glanced at in our 
catalogue of Western influences on Syria, the impression 

1 For the Hauran monuments, see p. 13; for Eusebius and other his- 
torians, p. 15. * See ch. xxviii. 



Syria's Place in History 



39 



made by the Crusades. Seen across the shadow of their 
great failure, the Crusades shine but a gleam of chivalry 
and romance. Only when you visit Syria do you learn 
with what strenuous faith, with what an infinite purpose, 
those ventures of a mistaken Christianity were waged. 
Syria was settled, organised, and built over 

The Crusades. 

almost as fully as any part of contemporary 
England. The reason that the remains of Greek civilisa- 
tion are so meagre on the west of the Jordan is the 
activity of the Crusaders. Large cities which were famous 
in ancient times, like Askalon and Caesarea, bear now in 
their ruins few but Crusading marks. How firmly they 
were built ! To-day the mortar in them is harder than 
the stone it binds. But it is not by these coast fortresses, 
nor by the huge castles crowning the heights far inland, 
that the Crusades impress you, so much as by the ruins of 
lonely churches and cloisters, which are scattered all over 
the land, far from the coast and the shelter of the great 
Frankish citadels. 1 After this interval of Christian rule 
comes the long period of silence and crumbling, and then 
we see the living churches of to-day, the flourishing 
missions and schools of nearly every sect in Christendom, 
and the long lines of pilgrims coming up to Jerusalem 
from the four corners of the world. 2 

1 For authorities on the Crusades, see pp. 17, 18. 

2 The chief native churches of Syria are (1) the orthodox Greek, with two 
patriarchates in Syria — Antioch and Jerusalem ; the patriarchs are nominally 
subject to the Patriarch at Constantinople, and to the Synod there. (2) The 
Maronites (from John Maro, their first bishop) were originally Monothelites, 
but in 1 182, as a result of dealings with Rome, they were received into com- 
munion with the latter, giving up their Monothelite doctrines, but retaining 
the Syriac language for the mass, and the marriage of their priests. They 
have one 'Patriarch of Antioch and all the East,' elected by bishops and 
archbishops, and confirmed by the Pope. There is a college for them, con- 
ducted by Jesuits, near the Nahr el Kelb. The best account of them is 



4-0 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



In all this the Palestine of to-day is much more a 
museum of church history than of the Bible — a museum 
full of living as well as ancient specimens of its subject. 

The present state of Christianity in Syria is very 
interesting, showing almost all the faults, as well as vir- 
tues, which have been conspicuous in church 

Christianity .... 1T . 

in Syria history from the beginning. Greeks and Latins 
are waging with each other a war for the pos- 
session of holy places, real and feigned. They have dis- 
figured the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, and threaten to 
cover the most of the land with rival sanctuaries, planted 
side by side as they are even at Gethsemane. 1 Behind 
all the Churches move, as of old, political interests, corn- 
that by Mr. Bliss in the P.E.F.Q. vols, for 1892-3. (3) In the seven- 
teenth century Roman missions succeeded in detaching a large number of the 
Greek Church, allowing the mass in the vernacular, Arabic or Greek com- 
munion in both kinds, and marriage of the clergy ; but insisting on recognition 
of the Pope, adoption of the Filioque, and observance of Latin Easter. These 
are now the Melchites, or Greek Catholics, who own one ' Patriarch of 
Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria,' elected by bishops, confirmed by the 
Tope. (4) Fragments of the old Syriac Church still exist in the land. 

Protestant missionaries came to the land in the beginning of the century, 
via Cyprus, where their earliest tombstones are. The American Presbyterians 
have worked longest and most powerfully — their two greatest works the 
College and its Press at Beyrout, and their translation of the Bible into Arabic. 
The Irish Presbyterian Church labours in Damascus and round about ; Church 
of Scotland Missions to the Jews in Beyrout ; Free Church of Scotland's 
Medical Missions at Shweir in Lebanon, at Tiberias and Safed ; Anglican 
Missions all over Palestine, with bishop in Jerusalem ; Jewish Missionary 
Societies of Church of England in Jerusalem, Damascus, and elsewhere ; 
Quaker and other missions here and there. Independent societies are also at 
work, schools at Nazareth, Jaffa, etc., and especially Edinburgh Medical 
Mission at Damascus, and British Syrian Schools organisation, which pretty 
well covers Lebanon. East of Jordan are the Church Missionary's church and 
schools at Es-Salt and other places, and an independent mission at Kerak. 

1 The bitter feeling between the two Churches which this rival building of 
ecclesiastical show-places has stirred may be seen in the title of a paper in 
the Roman Catholic Das Heilige Land for 1890, pp. 137-148. It runs, Die 
jungsten Gcwaltthaten dcr schismatisch.cn G rice hen in Jer~usalem. 



Syria s Place in History 



4i 



plicating and further debasing the quarrel. The native 
Christians, partly excusable by the long oppression they 
have suffered, feel that they hold no mission to Moham- 
medanism, and, it would appear, hardly believe that a 
Mohammedan can be converted. The Protestant missions 
have also, in present political conditions, found it impos- 
sible to influence any but individual Moslems ; but they 
have introduced the Bible in the vernacular, and this has 
had important effects on the native Churches. It is all 
very well to say, as certain have said in the recent con- 
troversy within the Anglican Church, that the Western 
Churches are in Palestine for other purposes than building 
rival conventicles to the Eastern ; but once the Bible was 
introduced in the vernacular, and studied by the common 
people, secession was morally certain from the native 
Churches, and for this the Western missionaries were 
bound, whether willing or no, to provide congregations 
and pastors. It is by a native church whose mother tongue 
is Arabic that the Moslems will be reached, though we 
do not yet see whether this is to take place through 
the older bodies, that give evidence of new life, or 
through the new congregations of the Western missions. 
Meantime two things are coming home to the Moslem : 
opportunities of education of a very high kind are within 
reach of all portions of the population, and even the 
Moslems of Damascus are waking up to the real meaning 
of Christianity, through that side of her which represents 
perhaps more vividly than any other, the Lord's own love 
and power to men — medical missions. 



CHAPTER II 

THE FORM OF THE LAND AND ITS 
HISTORICAL CONSEQUENCES 



For tkts chapter consult Map /., //., III 



THE FORM OF THE LAND AND ITS 
HISTORICAL CONSEQUENCES 



E have seen that Syria's closest relations are with 



» » the Arabian peninsula, of which, indeed, it forms 
the north end. That Syria is not also Arabian in char- 
acter — that the great Arabian Desert does not sweep on 
to the Mediterranean except at the extreme south-east 
corner — is due not only to the neighbourhood of that sea, 
but much more to the peculiar configuration of the land 
itself. The Arabian plateau ceases nearly ninety miles 
from the Mediterranean, because an immense triple barrier 
is formed against it. Parallel to the coast of the Levant, 
and all the way from Mount Taurus to the neighbourhood 
of the Red Sea, there run two great mountain ranges with 
an extraordinary valley between them. These ranges shut 
out the desert, and by help of the sea charge the whole 
climate with moisture — providing rains and Syria's barrier 
mists, innumerable fountains and several large t0 the desert ' 
rivers and lakes. They and their valley and their coast- 
land are Syria ; Arabia is all to the east of them. The 
Syrian ranges reach their summits about midway in the 
Alpine heights of the Lebanons. The Lebanons are the 
focus of Syria. Besides the many streams which spring 
full-born from their roots, and lavish water on their 




46 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



immediate neighbourhood, four great rivers pass from the 
Lebanons across the length and breadth of the province. 
The Orontes flows north, and waters most of northern 
Syria, creating Antioch ; the Abana, or Barada, flows 
east, and reclaims for Syria a large portion of what would 
otherwise be desert, creating Damascus ; the Litany rushes 
west in a bed too deep and narrow for any work save 
that of intersecting the land ; and the Jordan flows 
south, forming three lakes, and otherwise intensifying the 
division between the two ranges. Of these rivers, only 
the Orontes and Litany reach the open sea ; the Jordan 
comes to an end in the Dead Sea, and the Abana dies out 
in combat with the desert. The fate of the latter is a 
signal proof of how desperately Syria has been rescued 
from Arabia, and a symbol of the profound influence 
which the surrounding, invading desert has had upon all 
her culture and civilisation. 

The part of Syria with which we have to do is all to 
the south of the summits of the Lebanons. On their 
a triple western slope the gorge of the Litany may be 
barrier. taken as the most natural limit, though we 
shall sometimes pass a little beyond it. On the eastern 
slope we shall not go north of the Abana and Damascus. 
We have first to survey the great triple barrier against the 
desert, and we commence with its most distinctive feature 
— the valley between the two great ranges. 

South of the Lebanons, this valley, with the young 
Jordan in its embrace, begins to sink below the level of 
the sea. At the Lake of Huleh it is just seven feet above 
1. The Jordan tnat ^ eve ^ 5 at tne Lake of Galilee, ten miles 
valley. farther south, it is 680 feet below, and so for 

sixty-five miles more it continues to descend, till at the 



The Form of the Land 



47 



Dead Sea it is 1290 feet below. From here it rapidly 
rises to a height of nearly 300 feet above the sea, and 
thence slowly sinks again to the Gulf of Akabah, which 
*brms its southern continuation. For this unique and 
continuous trench from the Lebanons to the Red Sea 
there is no single designation. By using two of its names 
which overlap each other, we may call it the Jordan- 
'Arabah Valley. From the Lake of Galilee to the south 
of the Dead Sea it is called by the Arabs the Ghor, or 
Depression. 1 

On either side of this run the two great Syrian ranges. 
Fundamentally of the same formation, they are very diffe- 
rent in disposition. The western is a long, deep 2 The west . 
wall of limestone, extending all the way from ern range * 
Lebanon in the north to a line of cliffs opposite the 
Gulf and Canal of Suez — the southern edge of the Great 
Desert of the Wandering. In Lebanon this limestone is 
disposed mainly in lofty ranges running north and south ; 
in Upper Galilee it descends to a plateau walled by 
hills ; in Lower Galilee it is a series of still less elevated 
ranges, running east and west. Then it sinks to the plain 
of Esdraelon, with signs of having once bridged this 
level by a series of low ridges. 2 South of Esdraelon it 
rises again, and sends forth a branch in Carmel to the 
sea, but the main range continues parallel to the Jordan 
Valley. Scattering at first through Samaria into separate 
groups, it consolidates towards Bethel upon the narrow 
table-land of Judaea, with an average height of 2400 feet, 
continues so to the south of Hebron, where by broken and 
sloping strata it lets itself down, widening the while, on 
to the plateau of the Desert of the Wandering. This 

1 See more fully ch. xxii. 2 At Shekh Abide and Lejjun. 



48 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Western Range we shall call the Central Range, for it, 
and not the Jordan Valley, is historically the centre of 
the land. The watershed lies, not down the middle of 
the range, but nearer the east. The western flank is long 
and gentle, falling on to a maritime plain of very varying 
breadth, a few hundred feet above the sea ; but the eastern 
is short and precipitous, dragged down, as it were, by the 
fissure of the Jordan Valley to far below the sea-level. 
The effect of this appears in the sections given on the 
large map accompanying this volume. 

Down the eastern side of the Jordan Valley the range 
is even more continuous than that down the west. Sink- 
3 The east- m g swiftly from Mount Hermon to 2000 feet 
em range. above the sea, it preserves that average level 
southward across the plateau of Hauran to the great 
cleft of the river Yarmuk ; is still high, but more broken 
by cross valleys through Gilead ; and forms again an 
almost level table-land over Moab. Down the west 
of Hauran, on the margin of the Jordan Valley, the 
average level is raised by a number of extinct volcanoes, 
which have their counterparts also to the south and east 
of Damascus, and these have covered the limestone of 
the range with a deep volcanic deposit as far as the 
Yarmuk. South of the eastern line of volcanoes runs 
the Jebel Hauran, or Druze Mountain, as it is called 
from its latest colonists, and forms the boundary in that 
direction — the eastern boundary of Syria. Farther south 
the range has no such definite limit, but rolls off imper- 
ceptibly into the high Arabian Desert. Here we may 
take for a border the great Hajj Road, past the Upper 
Zerka to Ma'en. 

We see, then, that Palestine is disposed, between the 



The Form of the Land 



49 



Sea and the Desert, in a series of four parallel lines or 
bands running north and south : 1 — 

The The The The 

Sea. Maritime Central Jordan Eastern Desert. 

Plain. Range. Valley. Range. 

Now, were there no modifications of these four long 
bands between the Sea and the Desert, the geography of 
Palestine would indeed be simple, and in con- 

. ,. rr Modifications 

sequence the history of Palestine very different of the four 
from what has actually been. But the Central 
Range undergoes three modifications which considerably 
complicate the geography, and have had as powerful an 
influence on the history as the four long lines themselves. 
In the first place, the Central Range is broken in two, as 
we have seen, by the Plain of Esdraelon, which 

i t i -tru • i i nr • ' Esdraelon. 

unites the Jordan Valley with the Maritime 
Plain. Again, from Judaea the Central Range does not 
fall immediately on the Maritime Plain, as it does farther 
north from Samaria. Another smaller, more open range 
comes between — the hills of the so-called The 
Shephelah. These are believed to be of a She P hel *h. 
different kind of limestone from that of the Central Range, 
and they are certainly separated from Judsea by a well- 
defined series of valleys along their whole extent. 2 They 
do not continue opposite Samaria, for there the Central 
Range itself descends on the plain, but, as we shall see, 
they have a certain counterpart in the soft, low hills which 
separate the Central Range from Carmel. And 

The Negeb. 

thirdly, south of Judaea the Central Range 
droops and spreads upon a region quite distinct in char- 
acter from the tableland to the north of Hebron — the 

1 This is the division adopted by Robinson in his Phys. Geog., p. 17, and 
by Henderson, Palestine, pp. 15-21. 1 See p. 205. 

D 



50 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Negeb, or South Country as it is translated in our English 
version. As all of these three regions — Esdraelon, the 
Shephelah and the Negeb — have also proved their distinct- 
ness from the Central Range, as from the Maritime Plain, 
by their greatly differing histories, we add them to our 
catalogue of the ruling features of the land, which we now 
reckon as seven. From the West these lie as follows : — 

1. The Maritime Plain. 

2. The Low Hills or Shephelah. 

3. The Central Range — cut in two by 

4. Esdraelon, and running out into 

5. The Negeb. 

6. The Jordan Valley. 

7. The Eastern Range. 

In addition there are the Lebanons and Carmel. For 
some reasons the Lebanons ought to be at the head of the 
The Lebanons above list, because the four long strips flow 
and Carmel. from and are dominated by them. But the 
Lebanons are too separate, and stand by themselves. 
Carmel, on the other hand, is not separate enough. Geo- 
graphically a branch of the Central Range, though cut off 
from it by a district of lower and softer hills like the 
Shephelah, Carmel has never had a history of its own, but 
its history has been merged either in that of the coast or 
in that of Samaria. 1 Carmel, however, was always held 
distinct in the imagination of Hebrew writers, as, with its 
bold forward leap to the sea, it could not but be ; nor 
will any one, who desires to form a vivid picture of the 
country, leave this imposing headland out of his vision. 

The whole land may then be represented as on the 
opposite page. 

1 Se« ch. xx. 



PHYSICAL SKETCH MAP 




BanbuloUir-w. 1UW 



52 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



In the summary descriptions of the Promised Land 
in the Old Testament we find all these features men- 
tioned, — with the exception of Esdraelon, which falls 
under the general designation of valley-land, and with 
the addition sometimes of the slopes or flanks 1 of both 
ranges, which are distinct in character, and often in popu- 
lation, from the broad plateaus above them. An account 
of these passages, and of all the general geographical 
terms of the Bible, will be found in an appendix. Here 
it is enough to give a few of the proper names. We 
have mentioned that for the Jordan Valley, the 'Arabah ; 
that for the Low Hills, the Shephelah ; and that for the 
South, the Negeb. The Maritime Plain between Carmel 
and Joppa was called in Hebrew Sharon, probably mean- 
ing the Level, but in Greek the Forest, from a great oak 
forest which once covered it. 2 To the south the name for it 
was Pelesheth, Philistia, or, poetically, the Shoulder of the 
Philistines^ from its shape as it rises from the sea. 8 The 
Hebrew word darom or daroma f meaning south, was 
applied by the Jews shortly before our era to the whole 
of the Maritime Plain southwards from Lydda: 5 in Chris- 
tian times Daroma extended inland to the Dead Sea, and 
absorbed both the Shephelah and Negeb. 6 The Arabs 
confined the name to a fortress south of Gaza — the Darom 
of the Crusaders. 7 What we know as Esdraelon was, in it> 

1 Ashdoth = nHt?K- 3 See pp. 147, 148. 8 Isa. xi. 14. 

4 011*1, or with the Aramaic definite article NO'm. 
« Neubauer, Giog. du Talmud, p. 62. 

8 In the Onomaaticon, not only is Eshtemoa in Dan said to be in the 
Daroma, and Ziklag and other towns of Simeon, far south of Beit jibrin ; 
but Maon and Carmel on the Judsean table-land, and Gadda imminins man 
mortuo. There was a Daroma Interior (see Art. 'Jether'). 

7 Now Deir el Belah Will. Tyre, xx. 19, derives Darom from Deir-Rum, 
Convent of the Greeks, but the other is the probable derivation. 



The Form of the Land 



53 



western part, the Open Plain of Megiddo, but, on its eastern 
slope to the Jordan, the Vale of Jezreel. 1 Neither of 
the two great ranges was covered in its whole extent by 
one proper name. The Central was divided, according 
to the tribes upon it, into Mount Judah, Mount Ephraim 
or Israel, 2 and Mount Naphtali. In the English version 
mount is often rendered by hill-country? but this is mis- 
leading. With their usual exactness, the Hebrews saw 
that these regions formed part of one range, the whole of 
which they called not by a collective name, but singularly 
— The Mountain— just as to-day the inhabitants of the 
Lebanons speak of their double and broken range also in 
the singular, as El-Jebel. Before the Israelites came into 
the land they knew the Central Range as the Mount of 
the Amorite. 4 The Eastern Range was known under 
the three great divisions of Bashan to the north of the 
Yarmuk; Mount Gilead to the south of that; 6 and to the 
south of that across Moab, Ha-Mish6r, The Level, or 
The Plateau par excellence. Another name applied to the 
northern end of the Moab mountain-wall, as seen from, the 
west, the Mount or Mountains of the 'Abarim 6 — that is, 
Those-on-the-Other-Side — was applicable, as indeed it was 
probably applied, to the Eastern Range in its entire extent. 7 
Viewing, then, all these modifications of the great 
parallel lines of the land, we see that this fourfold division, 
fundamental as it is, is crossed, and to some Mountain 
extent superseded, by a simpler distinction and Plaln< 
between mountain and plain, or, to speak more exactly, 

1 See ch. xix. 2 See pp. 325, 338. 

8 Hill-country of Judaea, Luke i. 39, 65; Josh. xxi. II j but always Mount 
Ephraim. 4 Deut. i. 7. 

6 But see ch. xxv. • Numb, xxvii. 12. 

1 Traces of this in Ezek. xxxix. 1 1, where read D'H^JJ. 

• t -: 



54 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



between hilly country and level country. This is obvious 
geographically : it has been of the utmost importance 
historically, for the mountain was fit for infantry warfare 
only, but the plain was feasible for cavalry and chariots ; 
and, as Palestine from her position was bound to be crossed 
by the commerce and the war of the two great continents 
on either side of her, her plains would bear the brunt of 
these, while her mountains would be comparatively remote 
from them. All the Central Range, and the centre of the 
Eastern Range, was mountain, fit for infantry only. The 
Maritime Plain, Esdraelon, and the Jordan Valley, along 
with the great plateaus of the Eastern Range, Hauran 
and Moab, were plains, bearing the great trunk roads, 
and feasible for cavalry and chariots. Now, it is of the 
greatest importance to observe that all the mountain-land, 
viz., the Central Range and Gilead, represents Israel's 
proper and longest possessions, first won and last lost 
— while all the valley-land and table-land was, for the 
most part, hardly won and scarcely kept by Israel ; but at 
first remained for long in Canaanite keeping, and towards 
the end was the earliest to come under the great invading 
empires. Not only the course of Assyrian and Egyptian 
war but the advance of Greek culture and of Roman 
conquest is explained (as we shall see in detail) by this 
general distinction between hilly and level land, which, 
especially on the east of Jordan, does not correspond to 
the distinction of mountain range from Jordan Valley and 
Maritime Plain. Enisled by that circuit of lowland — the 
Gh6r, Esdraelon, and the Maritime Plain — the Central 
Range in Judah and Ephraim formed Israel's most con- 
stant sanctuary, and Gilead was generally attached to it 
But, from the table-land of Hauran, Israel were driven 



T*ke Form of the Land 



55 



by the chariots of Syria ; they held Moab only at inter- 
vals ; the Canaanites kept them for long and repeated 
periods out of the Upper Jordan Valley and Esdraelon ; 
and, except for two brief triumphs in the morning and in 
the evening of their history, the Philistines kept them out 
of the Maritime Plain. So, when the Greeks came, the 
regions they covered were the coast, the Jordan Valley, 
the Hauran, the eastern levels of Gilead, and Moab ; but 
it is noticeable that in Gilead itself the Greek cities were 
few and late, and in the Central Range not at all. And 
so, when the Romans came, the tactics of their great 
generals, as may be most clearly illustrated from Ves- 
pasian's campaign, were to secure all the plains, then 
Samaria, and, last of all, the high, close Judaea. 

But this distinction between mountain and plain, which 
accounts for so much of the history of the land, does not 
exhaust its extraordinary variety. Palestine is almost as 
much divided into petty provinces as Greece, and far 
more than those of Greece are her divisions intensified by 
differences of soil and climate. The two ends of the 
Jordan are not thirty miles away from those Brokenness of 
parts of the Maritime Plain which are respec- the land - 
tively opposite them, yet they are more separate from 
these than, in Switzerland, Canton Bern is from Canton 
Valais. The slopes of Lebanon are absolutely dis- 
tinct from Galilee ; Galilee is cut off from Hauran, and 
almost equally so from Samaria. From Hauran the 
Jebel Druz stands off by itself, and Gilead holds aloof to 
the south, and again Moab is distinct from Gilead. On 
each of the four lines, too, desert marches with fertile 
soil, implying the neighbourhood of very different races 
and systems of civilisation. Upon the Central Range 



56 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



itself Judah is bare, austere, secluded — a land of shepherds 
and unchanging life : Samaria is fertile and open — a land 
of husbandmen, as much in love with, as they were liable 
to, foreign influences. These differences of soil are in- 
tensified by differences of climate. In Palestine there is 
every climate between the sub-tropical of one end of the 
Jordan Valley and the sub-Alpine above the other end. 
There are palms in Jericho and pine forests in Lebanon. 
In the Ghor, in summer, you are under a temperature of 
more than ioo° Fahrenheit, and yet you see glistening the 
snow-fields of Hermon. All the intermediate steps between 
these extremes the eye can see at one sweep from Carmel 
— the sands and palms of the coast ; the wheat-fields of 
Esdraelon ; the oaks and sycamores of Galilee ; the pines, 
the peaks, the snows of Anti-Lebanon. How closely these 
differences lie to each other ! Take a section of the 
country across Judsea. With its palms and shadoofs the 
Philistine Plain might be a part of the Egyptian Delta ; 
but on the hills of the Shephelah which overlook it, you 
are in the scenery of Southern Europe ; the Judaean 
moors which overlook them are like the barer uplands of 
Central Germany, the shepherds wear sheepskin cloaks 
and live under stone roofs — sometimes the snow lies deep ; 
a few miles farther east and you are down on the desert 
among the Bedouin, with their tents of hair and their cotton 
clothing ; a few miles farther still, and you drop to torrid 
heat in the Jordan Valley ; a few miles beyond that and 
you rise to the plateau of the Belka, where the Arabs say 
' the cold is always at home.' Yet from Philistia to the 
Belka is scarcely seventy miles. 

All this means separate room and station for a far 
greater variety of race and government than could 



The Form of the Land 



57 



have been effected in so small a land by the simple 
distinction of Mountain and Plain. What is said of the 
people of Laish, in the north nook of the Jordan Valley, is 
very characteristic of the country. And the five men of 
Dan came to Laish, and saw the people who were in its 
midst, peaceful and careless, possessing riches, and far 
from the Phoenicians, and without any relation with the 
Arameans. 1 Laish is only twenty-five miles 

Its con- 

from the Sidonian coast, and about forty from sequences 

in history. 

Damascus, but great mountains intervene on 
either side. Her unprovoked conquest by the Danites 
happened without the interference of either of those 
powerful states. From this single case we may under- 
stand how often a revolution, or the invasion or devasta- 
tion of a locality, might take place without affecting other 
counties of this province — if one may so call them, which 
were but counties in size though kingdoms in difference 
of race and government. 

The frequent differences of race in the Palestine of 
to-day must strike the most careless traveller. The Chris- 
tian peoples, more than half Greek and partly Frank, who 
were driven into the Lebanon at various times by the 
Arab and Turk, still preserve on their high sanctuary 
their racial distinctions. How much taller and whiter 
and nobler are the Druses of Carmel than the fellahin of 
the plain at their feet ! 2 How distinct the Druses of 
Jebel Hauran are from the Bedouin around them ! The 

1 Judges xviii. 7 : according to Budde's separation of the two narratives 
intertwined in this chapter (Biicher Richtcr etc., p. 140). 

J To a less extent the same contrast prevails between the peasants of the 
Ghuta round Damascus and the finer peasants of Hauran, but the population 
of Hauran is, in many cases, so very recent an immigration (see ch. xxiv.), 
that it is difficult to appreciate the causes of this difference. 



58 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Greeks of Beyrout are half the world away from the 
Arabs of Damascus. On the Central Range, within Judaea 
itself, the desert has preserved the Bedouin unchanged, 
within a few miles of that medley of nations, Jerusalem. 
And, finally, within the Arab family there are differences 
that approach racial degree. The tropical Gh6r has 
engendered a variety of Arab, the Ghawarineh, whose 
frizzled hair and blackened skin contrast vividly with the 
pure Semitic features of the Bedouin of the plateaus 
above him — the 'Adwan or the Beni Sakhr. 

Therefore, while the simple distinction between mountain 
and plain enabled us to understand the course of the in- 
vasions of the great empires which burst on Syria, these 
Palestine a more intricate distinctions of soil, altitude, and 
Land of Tribes. c ii mate explain how it was that the minor 
races which poured into Palestine from parts of the world 
so different as Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Egypt, 
and the Greek islands, sustained their own characters in 
this little crowded province through so many centuries. 
Palestine has never belonged to one nation, and probably 
never will. Just as her fauna and flora represent many 
geological ages, and are related to the plants and animals of 
many other lands, 1 so varieties of the human race, culture 
and religion, the most extreme, preserve themselves side 
by side on those different shelves and coigns of her surface, 
in those different conditions of her climate. Thus when 
history first lights up within Palestine, what we see is a con- 
fused medley of clans — all that crowd of Canaanites, Amo- 
rites, Perizzites, Kenizzites, Hivites, Girgashites, Hittites 
sons of Anak and Zamzummim — which is so perplexing 

1 For the extreme diversity, see Tristram's various works : MerriPs East oj 
the [or dan ; and the summary in Henderson's Palestine. 



The Form of the Land 



59 



to the student, but yet in such thorough harmony with the 
natural conditions of the country and with the rest of the 
history. 1 Again, if we remember the fitful nature of all 
Semitic warfare — the great rush, and if that be not wholly 
successful at first, the resting content with what has been 
gained — then we can appreciate why, in so broken a land, 
the invasion of the Hebrew nomads was so partial, and 
left, even in those parts it covered, so many Canaanite 
enclaves. And within Israel herself, we understand why 
her tribes remained so distinct, why she so easily split into 
two kingdoms on the same narrow Highlands, and why 
even in Judah, there were clans like the Rechabites who 
preserved their life in tents and their austere desert 
habits, side by side with the Jewish vineyards and the 
Jewish cities. 

Palestine, formed as it is, and surrounded as it is, is 
emphatically a land of tribes. The idea that it can ever 
belong to one nation, even though this were the Jews, is 
contrary both to Nature and to Scripture. 

1 Some of these undoubtedly represent various races like Amorites, Hittites, 
and probably Zamzummim. Others get their name from their localities or the 
kind of life they lead. 



CHAPTER III 

THE CLIMATE AND FERTILITY OF THE 
LAND, WITH THEIR EFFECTS ON 
ITS RELIGION 



For this chapter consult Map J, 



THE CLIMATE AND FERTILITY OF THE 
LAND, WITH THEIR EFFECTS ON 
ITS RELIGION 

WE have already seen some of the peculiarities of 
the climate and soil of Palestine. We are able to 
appreciate in some degree the immense differences both of 
temperature and fertility, which are due, first, to the unusual 
range of level — from 1300 feet below the sea with a tropical 
atmosphere to 9000 feet above it with an Alpine, and, 
second, to the double exposure of the land — seawards, so 
that the bulk of it is subject to the ordinary influences 
of the Mediterranean basin, and desert-wards, so that part 
of it exhibits most of the characteristics of desert life. 
Within these ruling conditions we have now to look more 
closely at the details of the climate and fertility, and then 
to estimate their social and religious influence. 

I. Climate. 

The ruling feature of the climate of Syria is the division 
of the year into a rainy and a dry season. 1 Towards the 

1 On the climate of Palestine, besides works of travel or residence which 
furnish meteorological statistics, see Lynch 's Narrative and Official Reports, 
and Barclay's City of the Great King ; consult especially Robinson, Phys. 
Geog. of the Holy Land, ch. iii. ; P.E.F.Q., especially for 1872; 1883, 
Chaplin, Obs. on Climate of Jerus. ; 1888- 1893, Glaisher on Meteoro. Obs. 
at Sarona; 1893-4, lb. at Jerus. ; Anderlind, Z.D.P. V., viii. 101 ff. : Der 
Einfluss der Gebirgswaldungen in Nordl. Palastina auf die Vermehrung der 
w'asserigen Niederschlage daselbst ; Id. xiv. ; Ankel, Grundzuge der Landes 
natur des Wtstjordanlandes, IV, Das Klima ; Wittmann, Travels, 561-570. 

«3 



64 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



end of October 1 heavy rains begin to fall, at intervals, for 
a day or several days at a time. These are what the 
English Bible calls the early or former rain, 

The rains. & y J ' 

literally the Pourer? It opens the agricultural 
year ; the soil hardened and cracked by the long summer 
is loosened, and the farmer begins ploughing. 3 Till the 
end of November the average rainfall is not large, but 
it increases through December, January, and February, 
begins to abate in March, and is practically over by the 
middle of April. The latter rains of Scripture are the 
heavy showers of March and April. 4 Coming as they do 
before the harvest and the long summer drought, they are 
of far more importance to the country than all the rains of 
the winter months, and that is why these are passed over 
in Scripture, and emphasis is laid alone on the early and 
the latter rains. This has given most people the idea that 
there are only two intervals of rain in the Syrian year, at 
the vernal and the autumnal equinox ; but the whole of 
the winter is the rainy season, as indeed we are told in the 
well-known lines of the Song of Songs : 

Lo, the winter Is past, 
The rain is over and gone. 

During most winters both hail and snow fall on the hills. 

Hail is common, and is often mingled with 
Hail and snow. thunderstorms, which happen at 

intervals through the winter, and are frequent in spring. 

1 In Lebanon often a month earlier. 

' mv, Deut. xi. 14, Jer. v. 24, Hos. ri. 3. iWIO, Joel ii. 23, Ps. Ixxxiv. 7 
(E. V. 6). Cf. James v. 7. On rains and seasons generally see Book of Enoch. 

* The ecclesiastical year of the later Jews began in spring with the month 
Nisan. 

* B^p7D. Besides the references in the last note but one, cf. Prov. xvi. 15, 
Jer. iii. 3. Zech. x. I. Rain generically = 10D. A burst of rain=Dfc?J. 



The Climate and Fertility of the Land 65 



The Old Testament mentions hail and thunder together. 1 
On the Central Range snow has been known to reach a 
depth of nearly two feet, and to lie for five days or even 
more, and the pools at Jerusalem have sometimes been 
covered with ice. But this is rare : on the Central Range 
the ground seldom freezes, and the snow usually disappears 
in a day. 2 On the plateaus east of Jordan snow lies regu- 
larly for some days every winter, and on the top of Hermon 
there are fields of it through the summer. None has ever 
been seen to fall in the tropical Ghor. This explains the 
feat of Benaiah, who went down and slew a lion in the 
midst of a cistern in the day of the snow} The beast had 
strayed up the Judaean hills from Jordan, and had been 
caught in a sudden snowstorm. Where else than in Pales- 
tine could lions and snow thus come together ? 

In May showers are very rare, and from then till 
October, not only is there no rain, but a cloud seldom 
passes over the sky, and a thunderstorm is a miracle. - 
Morning mists, however, are not uncommon — in mid^ 
iummer, 1891, we twice woke into one as chill and dense 
as a Scotch 1 haar 1 5 — but they are soon dispersed. In 
Bible lands vapour is a true symbol of what is frail and 
fleeting — as it cannot be to us northerners, to whose coasts 
the mists cling with a pertinacity suggestive of very oppo- 
site ideas. On the other hand, the dews of Syrian nights 
are excessive ; on many mornings it looks as if there had 
been heavy rain, and this is the sole slackening of the 
drought which the land feels from May till October. 

1 Ps. xviii. etc. 

a On snow in Jerusalem, P.E.F.Q., 1883, 10 f. Rotainson, Phys. Geog., 
p. 265. 3 2 Sam. xxiii. 20. 4 I Sam. xii. 17, 18. 

5 At Ghabaghib in Hauran on 19th, and Irbid in Gftead on 25th, June, 
temp. 48 . On mists and dews, cf. Book of Enoch lx 

E 



66 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Throughout the summer prairie and forest fires are not 
uncommon. The grass and thistle of the desert will blaze 
for miles, driving the scorpions and vipers from their holes 
as John the Baptist describes in one of his vivid figures ; 1 
and sometimes, as the prophets tell us, the air is filled with 
the smoke of a whole wood. 2 

The winds of Syria are very regular, and their place 
obvious in the economy of her life. He maketh His 
ministers of winds. 3 They prevail from the 

The Winds. J y v 

west, and, with the help of the sea, they fulfil 
two great functions throughout the year. In the winter 
the west and south-west winds, damp from the sea, as they 
touch the cold mountains, drop their moisture and cause 
the winter rains. So our Lord said : When ye see a cloud 
rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a 
shower, and so it is} In summer the winds blow chiefly 
out of the drier north-west, and meeting only warmth do 
not cause showers, but greatly mitigate the daily heat. 5 
This latter function is even more regular than the former, 
for it is fulfilled morning by morning with almost perfect 
punctuality. Those who have not travelled through a 
Syrian summer can scarcely realise how welcome, how 
The Summer unfailing, a friend is the forenoon wind from 
west wmd. fae sea, how he is strongest just after noon, 
and does not leave you till the need for his freshness passes 
away with the sunset. He strikes the coast soon after 
sunrise ; in Hauran, in June and July, he used to reach 

1 Luke iii. 7. 2 Isa. v. 24 ; ix. 18 ; Joel i. 19 f. ; ii. 3. 

* Ps. civ. 4 ; Book of Enoch lxxvi. * Luke xii. 54. 

6 Ankel, op. cit., pp. 84 ff, gives a number of figures for Jerusalem. From 
May to October dry winds blow from NW. 78*8 days ; from W. 27-5 ; from 
N. 26 C- In the rainv month* W. and SW. winds blow for an average of 607 
days, from NE., E., and SE., 67*4. For wind at Sarona see P.E.F.Q., 1892. 



The Climate and Fertility of the Land 



6 7 



us between 10 and 12 o'clock, and blew so well that the 
hours previous to that were generally the hottest of our 
day. The peasants do all their winnowing against this 
steady wind, and there is no happier scene in the land than 
afternoon on the threshing-floors, when he rustles the 
thickly-strewn sheaves, and scatters the chaff before him. 1 
The other winds are much more infrequent and irregular. 
From the north wind blows chiefly in October, and brings 
a dry cold. 2 The name Sherkiyeh, our Sirocco, literally 
' the east,' is used of all winds blowing in from 

' & The Sirocco. 

the desert — east, south-east, south, and even 
south-south-west. They are hot winds : when ye see the 
south-wind blow, ye say, There will be heat, and it cometh to 
pass} They come with a mist of fine sand, veiling the sun, 
scorching vegetation, and bringing languor and fever to 
men. They are most painful airs, and if the divine eco- 
nomy were only for our physical benefit, inexplicable, for 
they neither carry rain nor help at harvest. A dry windoj 
the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of My 
people, neither to fan nor to cleansed They blow chiefly in 
the spring, and for a day at a time. The following extracts, 
from our diary in 1 891, will give some impression of what 
these hot sandy winds make of the atmosphere. It will 

1 The explanation of this daily wind is, of course, that the limestone of 
Syria heats up under the sun far more quickly than the sea, but after sunset 
cools again more rapidly, so that the night breezes, after an interval of great 
stillness just following sunset, blow in the opposite direction from the day 
ones. Ankel {op cit., p. 85) rightly emphasises the importance of those daily 
winds. Robinson, Phys. Geog., p. 278, remarks on their regularity. From June 
3 to 16 they had the north-west wind 1 from the time we left the Ghor till we 
arrived at Nazareth. The air was fine and mostly clear, and, although the 
mercury ranged from 8o° to 96°, the heat was not burdensome. ' Yet at Ekron, 
under the same wind, the thermometer rose to 105 , and in the sun only to 108°. 

2 Job xxxvii. 9. Cf. Ankel, op. cit., p. 86. 3 Luke xii. 55. 
* Jer. iv. 11. Cf. Ezek. xvii. 10; xix. 12; Hos. xiii. 15. 



68 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



be noticed how readily they pass over into rain, by a slight 
change in the direction, from SSW. to full SW. :— 

Edh-Dhaheriyah, Saturday, April 25 (in the Negeb, four hours 
south of Hebron), 8 p.m. — Night dark and clear, with moon in 
first quarter. Temp. 58 Fahr. ; 11 p.m. 62 , moon hazy. 

Sunday. — 8 a.m. 78 . Hot wind blowing from south, yet 
called Sherkeh or Sherkiyeh, i.e. east wind, by our men. 
Temperature rapidly rises to 88° at 10, and 90 at 12. Sky 
drumly all forenoon, but the sun casts shadows. Atmosphere 
thickening. At 1.45 wind rises, 93 \ 2.30, gale blowing, air 
filled with fine sand, horizon shortened to a mile, sun not 
visible, grey sky, but still a slight shadow cast by the tents. 
View from tent-door of light grey limestone land under dark grey 
sky, misty range of hills a mile away, and one camel visible ; 
3.40, wind begins to moderate, temp. 93 ; 4.40, strong wind, 
half-gale, 83 ; 5 p.m., wind SSW., temp. 78 . Wind veers 
round a little further W. in the course of the evening ; 6 p.m. 
temp. 72 ; sunset, 68°; 10.30 p.m., 63 . A slight shower of 
rain, stormy-looking night, with clouds gathering in from many 
quarters. The grey town's eastern face lit up by the moon, and 
very weird against the clouds, which are heaped together on the 
western sky, and also reflect the moonlight. 

Monday, April 27. — Rain at intervals through the night, with 
high SW. wind endangering the tents ; 5.45 a.m. temp. 58 . 
Distant hills under mist, with the sun breaking through. Scud- 
ding showers, grey clouds, no blue sky. Impression of land- 
scape as in Scottish uplands with little agriculture. Left camp 
6.30. Most of the day dull and windy. Cleared up towards 
evening, with sunshine. 

Here is another Sherkiyeh nearly three weeks later, in 
Samaria, between Sebastiyeh and Jenin : 

May 11. — At Sebastiyeh at sunrise the temperature was only 
48 with a slight west wind. Towards noon, under the same 
wind, it rose to 8o°. But then the wind changed. A Sherkiyeh 
blew from SSE., and at 2 p.m., at our resting-place, Kubatiyeh, 
which is high and open, it was 92 . Sun veiled, afternoon dulL 



The Climate and Fertility of the Land 69 



At 5, at Jenin, £ En-gannim, it was 88°, with more sunshine. At 
10, it was still 84 . A few hours later we were wakened by cold. 
The wind had changed to the West, the temperature was 72* 
At sunrise it was 68°. 

These two instances — and between them we experienced 
two others at Jerusalem, one of which lasted for two days 
— will give the reader some idea of what is the east wind, 
or sirocco. It will be seen from them that in Palestine 
this wind does not inflict on men more than great dis- 
comfort, with a strong possibility of fever. In the desert, 
where the sand is loose, it is different : there have been 
cases in which whole caravans were overwhelmed by the 
sirocco between Egypt and Palestine ; but once on the 
fertile hills, there is no danger to life from the sand-clouds, 
and the farther north they travel, the less disagreeable 
does their haze become. 1 

Yet sometimes the east wind breaks with great violence 
even on the coast. Tents may be carried away by wicked 
gusts. 2 It was to an east wind that Jeremiah likened the 
scattering of Israel, by an east wind that Ezekiel saw 
the ships of Tyre broken, and the Psalmist the ships of 
Tarshish. 3 

We have seen, then, how broken the surface of Palestine 
is ; how opposite are its various aspects, seaward and 
towards the desert ; how suddenly changing and how 
contrary its winds. All this will have prepared us for 
the fact that its differences of temperature are also 
very great — great between one part of the 

Temperature. 

country and another, great between summer 

and winter, but relatively greater between day and night 



1 Cf. Robinson, Phys.Gcog. pp. 279, 280. 2 Lynch, Official Report, p. 74. 
8 Jer. xviii. 17 ; Ezek. xxvii. 26 ; cf. xix. 12 ; Ps. xlviii. 7 ; Jos. xiv. 
Ant. ii. 2. 



70 The Historical Geography oj the Holy Land 



and between one part of the day and another. Here are 
some instances : On one of his journeys, Robinson ex- 
perienced in May, in the mountains of Judaea, a pleasant 
temperature of from 8o° to 96 under a fresh west wind ; 
but at Ekron in the plain, though the wind was the same, 
the heat had risen to 105 , and the sultry air had all the 
characteristics of a sirocco. Coming down from the 
plateau of Moab to the Jordan, on July 7th, we found 
the temperature at Heshbon at 9 A.M., when the sun was 
near his full strength, only 76 ; but on the edge of the 
Ghor at noon it was 103 ; on Jordan, at 2.30 P.M., ioi° ; 
and at Jericho throughout the night not less than 89 . 
On the heights of Gadara, from the afternoon of the 
23rd to the forenoon of the 27th June, the mid-day 
temperature had ranged under the west wind from 82 
to 90 , the evening temperature (between 6 and 10 P.M.) 
from 70 to 76 , while the lowest morning temperature just 
before sunrise was 65 °. But at the sulphur 

Its extremes. 

baths of Hammath, just below Gadara, the 
mid-day temperature on the 24th of June was ioo°, and at 
3 P.M. still 96 ; while at Pella, near the Jordan Valley, 
on the 28th and 29th June, we had a mid-day tempera- 
ture from 98 to ioi°, a sunrise temperature of 74 , and 
at 10 P.M. 78 . Yet after we rose, on the evening of the 
29th, to the Wady Yabis in Gilead, at 10 P.M., it was 
only 69 , and next mid-day at Ajlun 86°, and at 10 P.M. 
64 , and at sunrise next morning 5 8°. These are changes 
between different localities, but even at the same spot 
the range in temperature is great. We have seen that 
caused by the sirocco — in one instance from 48 at sun- 
rise to 92 by 2 P.M. But take an instance when there 
was no sirocco. On the 23rd of April, at Beit-Jibrin at 



The Climate and Fertility of the Land 7 1 



sunrise, the thermometer stood at 42 ; from 11 to 3 it 
ranged over 85 . At Laish it sank, in a storm of wind 
and rain, from 88° to 72 in very little over a quarter 
of an hour ; but changes as sudden, and even more 
extreme, are not uncommon down the whole of the 
Jordan Valley. 1 

But these extremes of heat which in summer surround 
the Central Range of Palestine, and these ample changes 
of temperature must not be allowed to confuse our minds 
with regard to the temperate and equable climate which 
this part of the land, Israel's proper territory, enjoys 
throughout the year. In all the world there are few 
healthier homes. The mean annual temperature varies 
from 62 to 68°. Except when the sirocco blows, the 
warmest days of summer seldom exceed 90°, and the 
cold of winter still more seldom falls to freezing-point, 
February is the coldest month, with a mean temperature 
of about 46 . Through March and April this rises from 
54 to. 61 ; in May and June from 65 to 74 ; July and 
August, 76 ; September and October, 75 to 68°. After 
the rains there is a fall in November to about 6o°, and in 
December to 52 . The snows, the less sunshine, and the 
cold north-east winds, are sufficient to account for the 
further fall in January to 49 . 2 

We have now carefully surveyed the rains, winds, and 
temperatures of Palestine. For the mass of the land 
lifted from 1000 to 2000 feet above the sea, the result is a 
temperate climate, with the annual seasons perhaps more 

1 Lynch's Narrative, cf. Daily Range, Sarona, P.E.F.Q., 1891 ; Jerus., 
id., 1893. On Tiberias, P.E.F.Q., 1896, p. 92 ; cf. below, Additional Note 
to 441. 

1 These figures are arrived at after a comparison of Barclay's for the years 
1 85 1 to 1855 [City of the Great King, p. 428), and those given by Chaplin, 
P.E.F.Q., 1883, and Glaisher, id., 1893-4. Cf. Wittmann, 561-570. 



J 2 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



regular, but the daily variations of heat certainly much 
greater, than is the case throughout the most of the tem- 
Raciai effect perate zone. On her hills and table-lands 
of the climate. Israd en j oyed all the advantages of a healthy 

and bracing climate, with the addition of such stimulus 
and strain as come from a considerable range of the daily 
temperature, as well as from the neighbourhood of extreme 
heat, in the Jordan Valley and in the Western Plain, to 
which the business of their life obliged most of the nation 
very frequently to descend. Some tribes suffered these 
changes of temperature more regularly than others. Most 
subject to them were the highlanders of Mount Ephraim, 
who had fields in the Jordan Valley, and the Galileans, 
whose province included both the heights of Naphtali and 
the tropical basin in which the Lake of Galilee lies. In 
their journeys through this land — from the Jordan to 
Cana, from Nazareth to Capernaum, from Capernaum to 
the highlands of Csesarea Philippi — our Lord and His 
disciples, often with no roof to cover their heads at night, 
must have felt the full range of the ample Syrian tem- 
perature. But these are the conditions which breed a 
hardy and an elastic frame of body. The national type, 
which was formed in them for nearly two millennia, was 
certain to prove at once tough and adaptable. To the 
singular variety of the climate in which the Jewish nation 
grew up we may justly trace much of the physical per- 
sistence and versatility which has made Jews at home in 
every quarter of the globe. This is something very different 
from the purely Semitic frame of body, which has been 
tempered only by the monotonous conditions of the 
desert. The Arab has never proved himself so successful 
a colonist as the Jew. And we have in these times another 



The Climate and Fertility of the Land 73 



instance of the tempering influences of the climate of 
Palestine. The emigration of Syrians from the Turkish 
Empire is steadily proceeding, and the Syrians are 
making good colonists in America and in Australia. 

There is one other effect of the climate of the Holy 
Land which is quite as important. It is a climate which 
lends itself to the service of moral ideas. 

In the first place, it is not mechanically regular. Unlike 
that of Egypt, the climate of Syria does not depend upon 
a few simple and unfailing- phenomena — upon 

r * v r Climate not 

one great instrument like the Nile to whose mechanically 

regular. 

operations man has but to link his own and the 
fruits of the year are inevitable. In the Palestine year 
there is no inevitableness. Fertility does not spring from 
a source which is within control of man's spade, and by 
which he can defy a brazen and illiberal heaven. It comes 
down from heaven, and if heaven sometimes withholds it, 
there is nothing else within man's reach to substitute for 
it. The climate of Palestine is regular enough to pro- 
voke men to methodical labour for its fruits, but the regu- 
larity is often interrupted. The early rains or the latter 
rains fail, drought comes occasionally for two years in 
succession, and that means famine and pestilence. There 
are, too, the visitations of the locust, which are said to be 
bad every fifth or sixth year ; and there are earthquakes, 
also periodical in Syria. Thus a purely mechanical con- 
ception of nature as something certain and inevitable, 
whose processes are more or less under man's control, is 
impossible ; and the imagination is roused to feel the pre- 
sence of a will behind nature, in face of whose interrup- 
tions of the fruitfulness or stability of the land man is 
absolutely helpless. To such a climate, then, is partly 



74 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



due Israel's doctrine of Providence. The author of the 
Book of Deuteronomy, to whom we owe so much insight 
into the religious influences of the Promised 

The Climate . . 

and Provi- Land, emphasises -this by contrasting the land 
with Egypt. For the land, whither thou goesi 
in to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt, whence ye came 
out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy 
foot, as a garden of herbs — that is, where everything is so 
in Deutero- much under man's control, where man has all 
nomy. nature at his foot like a little garden, where 

he has but to link himself to the mechanical processes 
of nature, and the fruits of the year are inevitable. 
But the land, whither ye are passing over to possess it, is a 
land of hills and valleys, of the rain of heaven it drinketh 
water: a land which fehovah thy God Himself looketh 
after ; continually are the eyes of fehovah thy God upon it, 
from the beginning of the year, even to the end of the year. 
That is, the climate of Egypt is not one which of itself 
suggests a personal Providence, but the climate of Pales- 
tine does so. And it shall be, if ye indeed hearken to my 
commandments, which I am commanding you to-day, to love 
Jehovah your God, to worship Him with all your heart, and 
with all your soul, that the7i I will give the rain of the land 
in its season — early rain and latter rain, — and thou shalt 
gather thy corn and thine oil And I will give grass in thy 
fields for thy cattle, a7id thou shalt eat and be full. Take 
heed to yourselves, lest your heart be beguiled, and ye turn 
aside and worship other gods and bow down to them ; and 
the wrath of Jehovah grow hot against you, and He shut up 
the heaven, that there be no rain, and the ground yield not 
her increase; and ye perish off the good land which Jehovah 
is giving you (Deut. xi.) 



The Climate and Fertility of the Land 75 



Two remarkable passages in the prophets give us in- 
stances of this general principle. Through Amos Jehovah 
reminds His people of recent drought, famine, mildew and 
blasting, pestilence and earthquake, and reproaches them 
that after each of these they did not return to In Amos 
Him : 1 yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith and Isaiah - 
Jehovah. And Isaiah, perhaps alluding to the same series 
of climatic disturbances, speaks in a different order, of 
earthquake, drought with forest fires and a famine, and 
complains that, in spite of them, the people are still im- 
penitent : for alt this His anger is not turned away, but 
His hand is stretched out still? 

It was a moral Providence, then, which the prophets read 
in the climate of their land. Now, there were features in 
this which of themselves might suggest such a reading. 
The hardness of man's life even in the best of seasons, for 
Palestine needs persistent toil to be fruitful, the uniqueness of 
presence of the desert, the drought, the earth- \%*f* { ProVi- 
quake,the locusts — these spontaneously suggest dence - 
a purpose at work for other than material ends. But Israel 
could not have read in them the high moral Providence 
which she did read, with a God of another character than 
Jehovah. Look at her neighbours. They experienced 
the same droughts, thunderstorms and earthquakes ; but 
these do not appear to have suggested to them any other 
ideas than the wrath of the Deity, who had therefore to 
be propitiated by the horrible sacrifices of manhood, 
feminine purity and child life, which have made their 

1 Amos iv. 6- 1 1. 

2 Isaiah v. 25, ix. 8-21, v. 26-30. These passages are connected by the 
same refrain, they belong to the same series, and must originally have stood 
together. We need not suppose that either prophet was bound to follow the 
real sequence. Amos puts famine before drought. 



J 6 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



religions so revolting. Israel also felt God was angry, 
but because He was such a God, and had revealed 
Himself as He had done in the past, they knew that He 
punished them through their climate, not to destroy, but 
to warn and turn, his rebel folk. The Syrian year and 
its interruptions play an equal part in the Phoenician 
religions and in the Hebrew prophets' doctrine of Provi- 
dence. But while in the former they lead to mutilation 
and horrible sacrifices, in the latter they are the reminder 
that man does not live by the bread of the year alone : 
they are calls to conscience, to repentance, to purity. 
And what makes the difference on that same soil, and 
under those same heavens, is the character of Israel's 
God. All the Syrian religions reflect the Syrian climate ; 
Israel alone interprets it for moral ends, because Israel 
alone has a God who is absolute righteousness. 

Here, then, is another of those many points at which 
the Geography of Syria exhausts the influence of the 
material and the seen, and indicates the presence on the 
land of the unseen and the spiritual. 



II. The Fertility of the Land. 

The long rainy season in Palestine means a consider- 
able rainfall, 1 and while it lasts the land gets a thorough 

soaking. Every highland gorge, every low- 
Winter rains 

and Summer land valley-bed — nearly every one of those 
wadies which are dry in summer, and to the 
traveller at that season seem the channels of some ancient 
and forgotten flood — is filled annually with a roaring 

1 Annual rainfall at Nazareth is about 61 centimetres ; at Jerusalem, 57 ; 
while at Athens it is 40 ; Constantinople, 70; Vienna, 44; London, 58; Paris, 
50; Rome, 80.— So Anderlind, Z.D.P.V., viii. 101 ff. Cf. P.E.F.Q. 1894. 



The Climate and Fertility of the Land 



77 



torrent, while many of the high meadows are lakes, and 
plains like Esdraelon become in part quagmires. But 
the land is" limestone and very porous. The heavy rains 
are quickly drained away, the wadies are left dry, the 
lakes become marshes, or dwindle to dirty ponds, 1 and 
on the west of Jordan there remain only a very few short 
perennial streams, of which but one or two, and these 
mere rills, are found in the hill-country. At the foot of 
the hills, however, there burst forth all through the summer 
not only such springs as we have in our own land, but 
large and copious fountains, from three to twenty feet in 
breadth, and one to three feet in depth — some with broad 
pools full of fish, and some sending forth streams strong 
enough to work mills a few yards away. These fountain- 
heads, as they are called, 2 are very characteristic features 
of the Syrian summer ; in the midst of the dust and rust 
of the rest of the land they surprise you with their wealth 
of water and rank vegetation. They are chiefly found at 
the foot of Hermon, where three of them give The Summel 
birth to the Jordan, along both bases of the wells ' 
Central Range, in the Jordan Valley and the Western 
Plain, and in Esdraelon at the foot of Gilboa and of the 
Samaritan hills. There are smaller editions of them 
among the hills of Galilee and Samaria, but in the table- 
land of Judaea the springs are few and meagre, and the 
inhabitants store the winter rain in pits, partly natural, 
partly built. On the plains water may be got in most 
places by boring and pumping. 3 

1 Very occasionally these winter lakes will be large through the whole 
summer. The Merj el Ghuruk, when we passed it in May 1891, was a very 
extensive lake. So with Buttauf in Galilee. 

2 Ras el 'Ain. 

• The presence of 'Ain, well or springs in place-names is very common, 



78 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



On the east of the Jordan water is much more plentiful. 
There are several long perennial rivers draining the eastern 
Water East desert, and watering all the plateaus between 
of Jordan. it and the j orc j an Valley, the eastern half of 
which might easily be irrigated by them in its entire extent. 
Springs are more frequent, and, although streams are fewer 
to the north of the Yarmuk than to the south, the soil on 
the north is deep volcanic mould on a basalt basis, and 
holds its winter moisture far longer than the limestone. 

The distribution of water, then, unequal as it is, is 
another factor in heightening the complexity of this land 
of contrasts. Take it along with the immense 

Inequality of . 

distribution differences of level and temperature, with the 

of Wci*6r 

differences of aspect, seaward and to the 
desert, and you begin to understand what a mixture of 



but we must not infer from this that living water is present. It is not so at 
'Ain Shems ; at 'Ain Sinia there is only a bir, or cistern of rain-water (Robin- 
son, Phys. Geog., 219, 220). At the foot of the hills the chief large fountains 
lhat are characteristic of Syria are the following : — On the Western Plain, 
between Tyre and Akkah at Ras el 'Ain, at 'Ain el Musheirifeh, at El- 
Kabtreh, at Birweh, and at Tell Kurdany, the source of the Belus. Along 
north base of Carmel the Kishon is fed by copious springs. South of Carmel 
we have the sources of the Zerka, Subbarin and Umm-esh Shukaf, whence 
aqueducts went to Caesarea, and some other spots at the roots of the 
Samarian hills, like Ras el 'Ain, whence the 'Aujeh flows. In the Shephelah 
there are several wells ; water can always be got by boring on the Philistine 
plain ; Askalon and Gaza are noted for their wells, and the wadies near the 
sea have fresh water for most of the year. The streams in the Negeb are 
only winter streams (Psalm cxxvi.) ; the wells are few. Along the western 
base of the Judsean range are some copious fountains, chiefly at faults in the 
strata in the gorges leading up to the plateau, e.g. 'Ain el Kuf, in the W. 
el Kuf. In a cave in a gorge off W. en Najil I found abundance of water in 
May. The Judsean plateau has many cisterns and pools, but few springs, 
and almost no large ones. There are two springs between Edh-Dhaheriyah 
and Hebron — perhaps the upper and nether springs of Caleb (Josh. xv. 19) ; 
twelve small springs about Hebron, and over thirty have been counted 
within a radius of ten miles from Jerusalem, but only those at King 
Solomon's Pools yield a considerable quantity of water. Samaria is more 



The Climate and Fertility of the Land 79 



soils Palestine is, and how her fauna and flora range 
along every degree between the Alpine and tropical, be- 
tween the forms of the Mediterranean basin and those of 
desert life, while she still cherishes, in that peculiar deep 
trench down the middle of her, animals and plants related 
to those of distant lands, with which in previous geological 
periods she had closer relations. 

As to soils, every reader of the Bible is made to feel 
how near in Palestine the barren lies to the fruitful. 
Apart from the desert proper, which comes up 

The Soil. 

almost to the gates of the Judsean cities, how 
much land is described as only pasture, and this so dry 
that there is constant strife for the wells upon it? How 
often do we hear of the field, the rough, uncultivated, but 
not wholly barren, bulk of the hill-country, where the 

favoured, especially at Khan Lubban, the W. Kanah, Salim, Nab) us (where 
the deep vale between Gerizim and Ebal has running water all the year 
round), Fendakumieh, Jeba, Tell Dothan, Lejjun, and Jenin. On the 
northern base of Gilboa there are 'Ain Jalud and three other fountains, 
making a considerable stream. In Galilee there are springs at Shunem, 
Khan el Tajjar (two, one large), Hattin (large), Nazareth, Seffurieh (large), 
Gischala, Tibnin, Kedesh (two, both large), and other places. Along the 
eastern base of the Central Range, in the Ghor, are many large and very 
copious fountains — most of them more or less brackish and warm — opposite 
Merom, 'Amudiyeh, Belateh, Mellahah, all copious, with streams; the last 
two very large, then the smaller Mughar and Kuba'a. On the eastern 
shore of the Lake el Tabighah, a fount with stream, 'Ain et Tineh and 
Mudawarah, with large pools ; 'Ain el Baridah, with small pools ; the hot 
springs at the Baths of Tiberias ; about Beisan many springs and thence 
down the Jordan at frequent intervals, especially at Sakut, W. Malih (salt 
and warm), Kerawa, Fusail, 'Aujeh, 'Ain Duk, 'Ain es Sultan (near Jericho), 
'Ain Hajla, out on the plain. And along the coast of the Dead Sea Jehair, 
Feshkhah (both brackish and warm), Ghuweir (small), Terabeh, 'Ain Jidy, 
and 'Areijeh, whose streams are copious, produce thickets and fields, but are 
lost even before the sea is reached. Of longer streams from the west the 
Jordan receives the Jalud at Bethshean, the Fari'ah, and the Kelt — the 
first two perennial, the last almost so. The waters on the Eastern Range 
will be treated further on. 



8o The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



beasts of tJie field, that is, wild beasts, found sufficient room 
to breed and become a serious hindrance, from first to 
last, to Israel's conquest of the land. 1 This field is a great 
element in the Old Testament landscape, and 

The Field. . ■ L , 

we recognise it to-day in the tracts of moor- 
land, hillside and summit, jungle and bare rock, which 
make up so much of the hill-country, and can never have 
been cultivated even for vines. How much of this field 
was forest must remain a debateable question. On the 
one hand, where there are now only some fragments of 
wood, writers, even down to the Crusades, describe large 

forests like that of Northern Sharon ; the word 

Woodland. , . 

for wood occurs in place-names, where there 
are now few trees, as in Judaea and Jaulan ; you see 
enormous roots here and there even on tHe bare plateau of 
Judaea ; palm groves have disappeared from the Jordan 
Valley, and elsewhere you may take for granted that 
the Turk has not left the land so well wooded as he 
found it. On the other hand, copse and wood covei 
many old clearings as on Carmel ; on the Central 
Range, the Old Testament speaks only of isolated large 
trees, of copses and small woods, but looks for its ideal 
forests to Gilead, Bashan, and Lebanon ; and there is 
very little mention of the manufacture of large native 
wood. 2 

The truth is, that the conditions for the growth of such 
large forests as we have in Europe and America, are not 
present in Palestine : the Hebrew word we translate forest 

1 Field, TCW, is used not only for this wild moorland and hillside, but also 
for cultivated soil, and for the territory belonging to a town. 

a Isaiah ix. 10. For the temple cedar was imported from Lebanon. The 
Israelites do not appear to have used coffins, 2 Kings xiii. 21 ; cf. Ankel, 
op. cii. t p. 104. 



The Climate and Fertility of the Land $i 



ought to be woodland, and perhaps only copse or jungle? 
and we may safely conclude that the land was never very 
much more wooded than it is to-day. The distribution of 
woodland may have been different, but the woods were 
what we find the characteristic Palestine wood still to 
be — open and scattered, the trees distinguished rather for 
thickness than height, and little undergrowth when com- 
pared with either a northern or a tropical forest. 2 Here 
and there groves of larger trees, or solitary giants of their 
kind, may have stood conspicuous on the bare landscape. 
The chief forest trees are several varieties of oak, including 
the ilex, of terebinth, 3 and carob, and box that _ 

' ' ' Trees. 

grows to a height of twenty feet, with a few 
pines and cypresses, and by water plane trees. All these 
were trees of God, that is, planted by Him and not by 
man. The only others of equal size were the walnut, 
mentioned by Josephus as numerous above the Lake of 
Galilee, and the sycomore, used for both its fruit and its 
timber. 4 But these were cultivated. The acacia or shittim- 
wood is common towards the desert. 

Next to the woods of Palestine, a high thick bush forms 
one of her sylvan features. It consists of dwarf oak, 
terebinth and pine, dwarf wild olive, wild vine, „ . 
arbutus and myrtle, juniper and thorn. This 
mixture of degraded forms of forest and fruit-trees repre- 
sents both the remains of former woods and the sites of 

1 -|y>. The corresponding Arabic wa l ar is rocky ground. 

2 Yet Richard's army found the undergrowth very difficult in the forest of 
Sharon. Vinsauf, Itin. Ricardi, iv. 12. 

3 It is often impossible to tell whether oak or terebinth is meant in the Old 

Testament. There are four words, rkii and ; J^K and fbti. 

4 Amos vii. 14 ; Isaiah ix. 9 (E. V. 10) ; I Kings x. 27 ; I Chron. xxviL 
(xxviii.) 28 ; 2 Chron. i. 15 ; Luke xix. 4. 

F 



82 The Historical Geography of the tloly Land 

abandoned cultivation. In the bush the forest and the 
garden meet half way. Sometimes old oil and wine- 
presses are found beneath it, sometimes great trees, sur- 
vivors of old woods, tower above it. A few wadies in 
Western Palestine, and many in Eastern, are filled with 
oleanders, ribbons of pink across the landscape. Willows 
are common, so are cane-brakes where there is water. The 
rank jungle of the Jordan and the stunted flora of the 
desert fall to be separately described. 

If Palestine be not a land of forests, it is a land of 
orchards. Except chestnuts, which singularly enough 
are not found here, all the fruit-trees of the 

Fruit -trees. 

temperate zone flourish in Syria. The most 
common are the apricot, ' to Syria what the fig is to 
Smyrna and Ephesus,' figs themselves, the orange, citron, 
pomegranate, mulberry, pistachio, almond, and walnut. 1 
The sycomore, which is very easily grown, is cultivated for 
its timber and its rough tasteless figs, which, as well as the 
carob fruit, are eaten by the very poor. 2 The date-palm 
used to be cultivated in large groves both on the Maritime 
Plain and in the Jordan Valley, where it might still be 
cultivated. 3 Near Jericho, large balsam groves were farmed 

down to Roman times. 4 But the two chief 

Olive and Vine. 

fruit-trees of Palestine are, of course, the olive 
and the vine, the olive certainly native to Syria, and the 
vine probably so. The cultivation of the former has been 

1 Tristram, Natural History of the Bible. Cf. Anderlind, Die Frucht- 
baume in Syrien insbesondere Palastina, Z.D.P. V. xi. 69. Plums, pears, 
and apples are seldom found in Palestine proper. Cherries are only lately 
introduced. 

a Amos was a gatherer of sycomore figs, vii. 14 ; the carob fruit was the 
food of the Prodigal, Luke xv. 16. 

* See below, pp. 267, 271, 354 note. 

* Balsamodendron Gileadense, still growing in Southern Syria. Cf. Jei. 
viii. 22. See below, p. 266, note 4 



The Climate and Fertility of the Land 



83 



sustained to the present day, and was probably never much 
greater than it is now. That of the vine is being greatly 
revived. The disappearance of vineyards and not of 
forests is the difference with which we have to reckon 
in the landscape of Palestine. Innumerable hillsides, not 
capable of other cultivation, which were terraced with green 
vineyards to their summit, now in their ruin only exag- 
gerate the stoniness of the land. 1 But the Germans on 
Mount Carmel and in Judaea, some French firms, and the 
Jesuits in the Bek'a between the Lebanons are fast chang- 
ing all this. At Salt there has always been, as there is 
now, a great cultivation of grapes for manufacture into 
raisins. 2 

The cultivation of grain was confined to the lower 
plateaus, the broader valleys, and the plains. At this day 
the best wheat-fields are Philistia, Esdraelon, 

Grain. 

the Mukhneh to the east of Nablus, and 
Hauran. The wheat of the latter, springing from volcanic 
soil, is famed throughout the East. 3 Barley, given to 
horses and other beasts of burden, was the despised food 
of the poorer peasants, or of the whole nation when the 
Arabs drove them from the plains to the hills. It was in 
the shape of a poor barley cake that the Midianite dreamt 
he saw Israel rolling down from the hills and overturning 
his camp on Esdraelon. 4 Oats were not grown, but millet 
was common in ancient times, and maize is now. Beans, 
pulse, and lentils were largely grown. Garden vegetables 
thrive richly wherever there is summerirrigation — tomatoes, 
onions, cucumbers, pumpkins, and melons chiefly in the 
plains, but we received all these fruits from the peasants 

1 See the chapter on Judaea. 2 See Additional Notes to Fourth Edition. 
3 See tke chapter on Hauran. 4 Judges vii. 13. 



84 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



of Gilead and the Bedouin of Moab. 1 It is doubtful 
whether the sugar-cane was known. 2 

There is, of course, no turf in Palestine, and very little 
grass that lasts through the summer. After the rains, the 
field springs thick with grasses and wild grains 

Pasture. 

of many kinds, 3 some clover, lupins, many 
succulent plants, aromatic herbs, lilies, anemones, and hosts 
of other wild-flowers, but early summer sees much of this 
withered away. Lupins, clover and other plants are 
sometimes cultivated for fodder ; but cattle and sheep 
alike must trust to the wild pasture, over whose meagre 
and interrupted vegetation their range has to be very large. 
Only by the great fountains and pools can they find rich 
unfading grass throughout the year. 

Such, then, is the fertility of the Holy Land in forest, 
orchard, and field. To a western eye it must, at certain 
seasons of the year, seem singularly meagre and unin- 
fluential — incapable of stirring the imagination,or enriching 
the life of a people. Yet come in, with the year at the 
flood, with the springing of the grain, with the rush of 
colour across the field, the flush of green on the desert, and 
in imagination clothe again the stony terraces with the 
vines which in ancient times trailed from foot to summit of 
many of the hills — then, even though your eye be western, 
you will feel the charm and intoxication of the land. It is 
not, however, the western eye we have to consider. It is the 

1 The potato, I think, has just been introduced to Syria. 

2 Isaiah xliii. 24 ; Jeremiah vi. 20. Eng. Sweet Cane ; but, according to 
most authorities, identical with the Calamus (Exod. xxx. 23 ; Ezek. xxvii. 19), 
a kind of spice, probably imported. 

3 Three Hebrew words are translated grass : p*\>, Jerek, which means any 
green herb : NBH, Deshe, which is our grass proper ; Hassir, which is 
cut jjrass or hay. Hay is infrequent, cf. Buhl, Geogr. p. 56, note 33. 



The Climate and Fertility of the Land 



85 



effect of this fertility on the desert nomads from whom, 
as we have seen, the population of Syria was chiefly 
drawn. If even at the season of its annual ^ r , 

Effect of the 

ebb the fertility of the whole land affords Syrian fertility 

on the Nomad. 

a certain contrast to the desert — how much 
more must its eastern forests, its immense wheat-fields, 
its streams, the oases round its perennial fountains, the 
pride of Jordan, impress the immigrant nomad. If he 
settles down among them, how wholly must they alter 
his mode of life ! 

The fertility of the Holy Land affected immigrants from 
the desert, among whom Israel were the chief, in two ways. 
It meant to them at once an ascent in civilisation and a 
fall in religion. 

1. It meant a rise in civilisation. To pass from the 
desert into Syria is to leave the habits of the nomadic life 
for those of the agricultural. The process may A rise in 
be gradual, and generally has been so, but the emotion, 
end is inevitable. Immigrant tribes, with their herds and 
tents, may roam even the Syrian fields for generations, 
but at last they settle down in villages and townships. 
The process can be illustrated all down the history of 
Syria : it can be seen at work to-day. Israel also passed 
through it, and the passage made them a nation. From a 
series of loosely-connected pastoral clans, they became a 
united people, with a definite territory, and _ 

* r * Israel s passage 

its culture as the means of their life. The fr ° m t Q e 

nomadic stage 

story is told in two passages of such great to the agricul- 
tural. 

beauty that I translate the whole of them. 
The first is from the Song of Moses, and the other from 
the Blessing of the Tribes — in chapters xxxii. and xxxiii. 
of the Book of Deuteronomy. It is to be noticed that 



86 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



neither of them carries the origin of Israel further back than 
the desert. Neither of them even hints at the sojourn of 
the people in Egypt. Israel is a purely desert tribe, who 
by the inspiration of Jehovah are stirred up to leave their 
desert home, and settle as agriculturists in Palestine : 

Remember the days of old, 

Consider the years of generation on generation. 
Ask thy father and he will show thee. 

Thine elders and they will tell thee. 
When the Highest gave nations their heritage. 

When He sundered the children of men. 
He set the border of the tribes* 

By the number of the children of Israel. 
For the portion of Jehovah is His people, 

Jacob the measure of His heritage. 
He found him in a land of the desert \ 

In a waste, in a howling wilderness. 
He encompassed him, He distinguished him, 

He watched him as the apple of His eye. 
As an eagle stirreth his nest, 

Fluttereth over his young, 
Spreadeth abroad his wings, taketh them, 

Beareth them up on his pinions, 
Jehovah alone led him 

And no strange god was with him. 
He made him to ride on the Land's high places. 

And to eat of the growth of the field. 
He gave him to suck honey from the cliff, 

And oil from the flinty rock. 
Cream of kine and milk of sheep, 

With lambs' fat and rams', 
Breed of Bashan and he-goats, 

With fat of the kidneys of wheat; 
And the blood of the grape thou drankest in foam 1 

How could the passage from the nomadic life to the 
agricultural be more vividly expressed than by this figure 
of a brood of desert birds stirred to leave their nest by the 
father bird ! The next poem is full of the same ideas — 
1 Lit., peoples. 



I 



The Climate and Fertility of the Land 87 

that it was in the wilderness Jehovah met the people, that 
their separate tribes first became a nation by their settle- 
ment in Canaan, and the new habits which its fertility 
imposed on them : 

Jehovah from Sinai hath come, 

And risen from Seir upon them; 
He shone from Mount Paran, 

And broke from Meribah of Qadesh} 
From the South 3 fire . . . to them. 

Also He loved His people, 
All His saints were in thy hand (?), 

They pressed to thy feet (?), 
They took of His words? 

Law did Moses command us, 
A Domain had the congregation of Jacob, — 

So he became king in Jeshurun, 
When the heads of the people were gathered, 

When the tribes of Israel were one. 
#*■****» 

There is none like the God of Jeshurun, 

Riding the heavens to thy help, 

And the clouds in His highness ! 
A refuge is the everlasting God, 

And beneath are the arms of eternity. 
And he drove from before thee the foe, 

And he said— Destroy / 
So Israel dwelt in safety, 

Secluded was Jacob's fount. 
In a land of corn and wine, 

Also His heavens dropped dew. 
Happy thou, Israel / Who is like unto thee / 

People saved by Jehovah, 
The shield of thy help, 

Yea, the sword of thy highness; 
And thy foes shall fawn on thee* 

And thou — on their heights shalt thou march! 

1 Text slightly altered (partly after the LXX. ) gives this true parallel to the 
other lines. 

3 Reading very corrupt. I suggest the south as a parallel to the other lines. 

1 LXX. , these lines are very uncertain. 

* To adopt the happy translation of Mr. Addif, 



88 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



2. But this rise from the nomadic level to the agricul- 
tural, which the passage from the desert into Syria implied, 
this ascent in social life, meant at the same time almost 
inevitably a descent in religion. 

It is very intelligible. The creed of the desert nomad is 
simple and austere — for nature about him is monotonous, 
silent, and illiberal. But Syria is a land of 

Religious con- * 

sequences of the lavish gifts and oracles — where woods are 

fertility. b 

full of mysterious speech, and rivers burst 
suddenly from the ground, where the freedom of nature 
excites, and seems to sanction, the passions of the human 
body, where food is rich, and men drink wine. The spirit 
and the senses are equally taken by surprise. No one can 
tell how many voices a tree has who has not come up to 
it from the silence of the great desert. No one may 
imagine how 1 possessed' a landscape can feel — as if singled 
out and endowed by some divinity for his own domain 
and residence — who has not, across the forsaken plateaus 
of Moab or Anti-Lebanon, fallen upon one of the sudden 
Syrian rivers, with its wealth of water and of verdure. 

But with the awe comes the sense of indulgence, and 
the starved instincts of the body break riotously forth. 
It is said that Mohammed, upon one of his journeys out of 
Central Arabia, was taken to look upon Damascus. He 
gazed, but turned away, and would not enter the city. 
1 Man/ he said, ' can have but one Paradise, and mine is 
above.' It may be a legend, but it is a true symbol of the 
effect which Syria exercises on the imagination of every 
nomad who crosses her border. 

All this is said to have happened to Israel from almost 
their first encampment in Canaan. Israel settled in Shittim, 
and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters 



The Climate and Fertility of the Land 89 



of Moab . . . Israel joined himself to Baal-peor. And 
still more, when they settled on the west of the Jordan 
among the Canaanites, and had fully adopted the life of the 
land, did they lapse into polytheism, and the Israe i' s f a u i nto 
sensuous Canaanite ritual. In every favoured P ol y theism - 
spot of the land their predecessors had felt a Ba'al, a Lord 
or Possessor, to whom the place was Be'ulah, subject or 
married, and to these innumerable Ba'alim they turned 
aside. They went astray on every high hill, and under 
every green tree} . . . they did according to all the abomina- 
tions of the nations which the Lord cast out before the chil- 
dren of Israel? The poem which we have already quoted 
directly connects this lapse into idolatry with the change 
from the nomadic to the agricultural life. These next 
lines follow on immediately to the lines on p. 86 : 

And Jeshurun waxed fat, and struck out 

— Thou art fat, thou art thick, thou art sleek / — 
And cast off the God that had made him, 

And despised the Rock his salvation. 
They moved him to jealousy with strange gods, 

With abominations provoked Him to anger* 
They sacrificed to monsters undivine, 

Gods they had known not, 
New things, lately come in, 

Their fathers never had them in awe. 
Of the Rock that bare thee thou wast unmindful) 

And forgattest the God who gave thee birth. 

All this makes two things clear to us. The conception 
of Israel's early history which prevails in Deuteronomy, 
viz., that the nation suffered a declension from a pure and 
simple estate of life and religion, to one which was gross and 

1 The worship of the host of heaven did not become general in Israel till 
the ninth and eighth centuries. 

2 1 Kings xiv. 23, 24. Cf. 2 Kings xvii. 9-12 ; Hos. ix. 10. 



90 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



sensuous, from the worship of their own deity to the wor- 
ship of many local gods, is justified in the main — I do not 
say in details, but in the main — by the geographical data, 
and by what we know to have been the influence of these 
at all periods in history. And, secondly, this survey of the 
fertility of Syria, and of its social and religious influences, 
must surely have made very clear to us how 

The marvel of .... r . . 

monotheism in unlikely a soil this was for monotheism to 
spring from. We must feel that it has brought 
out into relief the presence and the power of those spiritual 
forces, which, in spite of the opposition of nature, did create 
upon Syria the monotheistic creed of Israel. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE SCENERY OF THE LAND 
AND ITS REFLECTION IN THE 
BIBLE 



THE SCENERY OF THE LAND AND ITS 
REFLECTION IN THE BIBLE 



IT has grown the fashion to despise the scenery of 
Palestine. The tourist, easily saddle-sore and miss- 
ing the comforts of European travel, finds the Picturesque 
landscape deteriorate almost from the moment Palestme - 
he leaves the orange-groves of Jaffa behind him, and 
arrives in the north with a disappointment which Lebanon 
itself cannot appease. The Plain is commonplace, the 
glens of Samaria only 1 pretty/ but the Judaean table-land 
revolting in its stony dryness, and the surroundings of the 
Lake of Galilee feverish and glaring. Now it is true that 
the greater part of Palestine, like some other countries 
not unknown for beauty, requires all the ornament which 
cultivation can give it, and it has been deprived of this. 
The land has been stripped and starved, its bones pro- 
trude, in parts it is very bald — a carcase of a land, if you 
like, from some points of view, and especially when the 
clouds lower, or the sirocco throws dust across the sun. 
Yet, even as it lies to-day, there are, in the Holy Land, 
some prospects as bold and rich as any you will see in 
countries famed for their picturesqueness. There is the 
coast-line from the headland of Carmel — northwards the 
Gulf of Haifa, with its yellow sands and palms, across 
them brown, crumbling Acre, and in the haze the white 

93 



94 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Ladder of Tyre : southwards Sharon with her scattered 
forest, her coast of sand and grass, and the haggard ruins 
of Athlit — last foothold of the Crusaders : westwards the 
green sea and the wonderful shadows of the clouds upon 
it — grey when you look at them with your face to the 
sun, but, with the sun behind you, purple, and more like 
Homer's 1 wine-coloured ' water than anything I have 
seen on the Mediterranean. There is the excellency of 
Carmel itself : wheat-fields climbing from Esdraelon to the 
first bare rocks, then thick bush and scrub, young ilex, 
wild olives and pines, with undergrowth of large purple 
thistles, mallows with blossoms like pelargoniums, stocks 
of hollyhock, golden broom, honeysuckle and convolvulus 
— then, between the shoulders of the mountain, olive- 
groves, their dull green mass banked by the lighter forest 
trees, and on the flanks the broad lawns, where in the 
shadow of great oaks you look far out to sea. There is 
the Lake of Galilee as you see it from Gadara, with the 
hills of Naphtali above it, and Hermon filling all the 
north. There is the perspective of the Jordan Valley as 
you look up from over Jericho, between the bare ranges 
of Gilead and Ephraim, with the winding ribbon of the 
river's jungle, and the top of Hermon like a white cloud 
in the infinite distance. There is the forest of Gilead, 
where you ride, two thousand feet high, under the boughs 
of great trees creaking and rustling in the wind, with all 
Western Palestine before you. There is the moonlight 
view out of the bush on the northern flank of Tabor, the 
leap of the sun over the edge of Bashan, summer morn- 
ing in the Shephelah, and sunset over the Mediterranean, 
when you see it from the gateway of the ruins on Samaria 
down the glistening Vale of Barley. Even in the barest 



The Scenery of the Land 



95 



provinces you get many a little picture that lives with you 
for life — a chocolate -coloured bank with red poppies 
against the green of the prickly pear hedge above it, and 
a yellow lizard darting across; a river-bed of pink 
oleanders flush with the plain ; a gorge in Judaea, where 
you look up between limestone walls picked out with 
tufts of grass and black-and-tan goats cropping at them, 
the deep blue sky over all, and, on the edge of the only 
shadow, a well, a trough, and a solitary herdsman. 

And then there are those prospects in which no other 
country can match Palestine, for no other has a valley 
like the Ghor, or a desert like that which falls from 
Judaea to the Dead Sea. 1 There is the view from the 
Mount of Olives, down twenty miles of desert hill-tops to 
the deep blue waters, with the wall of Moab glowing on 
the further side like burnished copper, and staining the 
blue sea red with its light. There is the view of the Dead 
Sea through the hazy afternoon, when across the yellow 
foreground of Jeshimon the white Lisan rises like a pack 
of Greenland ice from the blue waters, and beyond it the 
Moab range, misty, silent, and weird. There are the 
precipices of Masada and Engedi sheer from the salt 
coast. And, above all, there is the view from Engedi 
under the full moon, when the sea is bridged with gold, 
and the eastern mountains are black with a border of 
opal. 

But, whether there be beauty or not, there is always on 
all the heights that sense of space and distance which 
comes from Palestine's high position between the great 
desert and the great sea. 

1 De- Saulcy calls the Dead Sea, 1 le lac le plus imposant et le plus beau 
qui existe sur la terre.' — Voyage autour de la Mer Morte, i. 154. 



g6 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Of all this, such use was made by Israel as served the 
expression of her high ideals, or was necessary in the 
description of her warfare. Israel was a nation of prophets 
and warriors. But prophets, like lovers, offer you no 
more reflection of nature than as she sympathises with 
their passion ; nor warriors, except as they wait 

Its reflection r r J 

in Israel's impatiently for her omens, or are excited by 
war songs. ^ er freshness and motion, or lay down their 
tactics by her contours. Let it be when thou hearest the 
sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then 
thou bestir thyself \ for then shall Jehovah have gone out 
before thee to smite the host of the Philistines} 

The torre?it of Kishon swept them away, 
That torrent of spates, torrent Kishon} 

My God, make them like a whirl of dust, 

Like the stubble before the wind; 

As a fire burnetii a wood 

And as flame setteth the mountains afire} 

And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove % 
t I would fly away and be at rest / 
/ would hasten my escape 
From the windy storm and tempest} 

The God of my rock j in Him will I trust: 
My shield, and the horn of my salvation, 
My high tower and my refuge. 
He matcheth my feet to hinds' feetj 
He setteth me upon 7ny high places. 
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me j 
So that my ankles swerved not. b 

Of the brook shall he drink by the way: 
Therefore shall he lift up the head. 6 



1 I Chron. xiv. 15. 9 Judges v 21 3 Fs. lxxxiii. 13, 14 

• Ps. lv. 6-8. * 2 Sam- xxii. 3, 34, 37. • Ps. ex. 7. 



The Scenery of the Land 



97 



The gazelle, Israel, is slain on thy heights, 
How fallen are the heroes f 1 

When the Almighty scattered kings on her, 
It was as when it snoweth on Salmon.' 1 

How vividly do these cries from Israel's mountain-war 
bring before us all that thirsty, broken land of crags and 
shelves, moors and gullies, with its mire and its rock, its 
few summer brooks, its winter spates and heavy snows ; the 
rustling of its woods, its gusts of wind, and its bush fires ; 
its startled birds, when the sudden storms from the sea 
sweep up the gorges, and its glimpses of deer, poised for 
a moment on the high sky-line of the hills. The battle- 
fields, too, are always accurately described — 

Battle-fields. 

the features of the Vale of Elah, of Michmash, 
of Jezreel, and of Jeshimon can be recognised to-day from 
the stories of David and Goliath, of Jonathan and the 
Philistine host, of Saul's defeat and Gideon's victory, and 
Saul's pursuit of David. 3 

The little details, which thus catch a soldiers ear and 
eye, are of course not so frequent with the prophets as the 
long lines of the land, and its greater natural phenomena. 

He that sitteth on the circle of the earth, 
And the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers ; 
That stretcheth the heavens as a curtain, 
And spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.^ 

Men who looked at life under that lofty imagination did 

1 2 Sam. i. 19. 2 Ps. lxviii. 14. 

3 The most careful study of these battle-fields is that given by Principal Miller 
in The Least of all Lands, and accurate plans accompany the vivid descrip- 
tions. See also Major Conder's identification of the scene of the story of 
David and Goliath, and his description of Mount Hachilah in Jeshimon. — 
Tent IVork, pp. 277 and 244. 4 Isaiah xl. 22. 

G 



98 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



not notice closely the details of their country's scenery, 
What infected them was the sense of space and dis- 
tance, the stupendous contrasts of desert and 



thunderstorms sweeping the length of the land, and the 
earthquakes. For these were symbols of the great pro- 
phetic themes : the abiding justice and mercy of God, 
the steadfastness of His providence, the nearness of His 
judgments to life, which lies between His judgments as the 
land between the Desert and the Great Deep ; His power 
to bring up life upon His people as spring rushes up 
on the wilderness ; His awful last judgment, like morn- 
ing scattered on the mountains, when the dawn is crushed 
upon the land between the hills and the heavy clouds, 
and the lurid light is spilt like the wine-press of the 
wrath of God. And if those great outlines are touched 
here and there with flowers, or a mist, or a bird's nest, 
or a passing thistledown, or a bit of meadow, or a quiet 
pool, or an olive-tree in the sunshine, it is to illustrate 
human beauty, which comes upon the earth as fair as her 
wild-flowers, and as quickly passeth away, which is like 
a vapour that appeareth for a moment on the hillside 
and then vanisheth ; or it is to symbolise God's provision 
of peace to His people in corners and nooks of this 
fiercely-swept life of ours : 



where the effect is of liquid light, when the sun breaks 



The Scenery 
in the 
Prophets. 



fertility, the hard, straight coast with the sea 
breaking into foam, the swift sunrise, the 



He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : 
He leadeth me beside the still waters, , 1 



They looked unto him, and were lightened; 2 



Psalm xxiii. 2. 



Psalm xxxiv. 5, Massoretic text. 



The Scenery of the Land 



99 



through the clouds, rippling across a wood or a troubled 
piece of water. 

But I am like a green olive-tree in the house of God. 1 
I will be as the dew unto Israel: 

He shall blossom as the lily, and strike forth his roots like Lebanon : 
His branches shall spread, 

His beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon? 

Bring up man and the animals on the scene, and 
you see those landscapes described by Old Testament 
writers exactly as you will see them to-day — the valleys 
covered with corn, the pastures above clothed with 
flocks, shepherds and husbandmen calling to each other 
through the morning air, the narrow high-banked hill- 
roads brimming with sheep, the long and stately camel 
trains, the herds of wild cattle, — bulls of Bashau have com- 
passed me about. You see the villages by day, with the 
children coming forth to meet the traveller ; 3 the villages 
by night, without a light, when you stumble on them in 
the darkness, and all the dogs begin barking, — at evening 
they return and make a noise like a dog, and go round about 
the city. You see night, 

Wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. 
The sun arise th, they shrink together, 
And lay them down in their dens. 
Man goeth forth unto his work, 
And to his labour till the evening. 

You see those details which are so characteristic of every 
Eastern landscape, the chaff and rolling thorns blown be- 
fore the wind, the dirt cast out on the streets ; the broken 
vessel by the well ; the forsaken house ; the dusty grave. 
Let us pay attention to all these, and we shall surely 

* Psalm lii. 8. * Hosea xiv. 5, 6. 1 2 Kings vi.; Mark x. 13. 



ioo The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



feel ourselves in the atmosphere and scenery in which 
David fought, and Elisha went to and fro, and Malachi 
saw the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his 
wings. 

There are three poems in the Old Testament which give 
a more or less comprehensive picture of the scenery of 
Palestine : the Twenty-Ninth Psalm, the Song of Solomon, 
and the Hundred and Fourth Psalm. 

The Twenty-Ninth Psalm describes a thunderstorm 
travelling the whole length of the land, rattling and strip- 
ping it : so that you see its chief features 

Psalm xxix. r & . 3 _ 

sweeping before you on the storm. Enough 
to give the translation of verses 3-9, which contain 
the description. It begins among the thunder-clouds : 

The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters, 
The God of Glory thunder eth ; 
Jehovah is upon great waters. 
The v<***4 of Jehovah with power, 
The voice of Jehovah with majesty, 
The voice of Jehovah breaketh the cedars; 
Yea, Jehovah breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. 
He maketh them also to skip like a calf; 
Lebanon and Sirion like a wild ox in his youth. 
The voice of Jehovah hewcth out Jlames of fire. 
The voice of Jehovah maketh the wilderness whirl; 
Jehovah maketh the wilderness of Kadesh to whirl. 
The voice of Jehovah maketh the hinds to travail, 
And strippeth the forests; 
In His palace every one say eth, Glory. x 

Here all the scenery appears to us, as in flashes of light- 
ning, from the storm-clouds that break on the peaks of 
Lebanon, down Lebanon's flanks to the lower forests 
where the deer lie, and so out upon the desert. In the 

1 Psalm xxix. 3-9. 

/ 



The Scenery of the Land 



IOI 



last verse there is a wonderful contrast between the agita- 
tion of the earth at one end of the storm, and the glory 
of the heavenly temple at the other. 1 

In the Song of Songs we have a very different aspect of 
the country : springtime among the vineyards Song of 
and villages of North Israel, where the poem Son g s - 
was certainly composed. The date does not matter for 
our purpose : 

* For, see, the winter has passed. 
The rain is over and gone; 
The flowers appear in the land; 
The time of singing is come, 

A nd the turtle dove's murmur is heard in our land. 

The fig-tree is reddening her figs, 

And blossoming vines give forth their scent.' 3 

1 Come, my beloved, let us forth to the field, 
Let us lodge in the villages, 
Let us early to the vineyards, 
Let us see if the vine flourish, 
If the vine blossom have opened, 
The pomegranates bud. 
There will I give thee my loves, 
The mandrakes are fragrant, 
And about our gates are all rare fruits, — 
/ have stored them for thee, my beloved. 1 

Lebanon is in sight and Hermon : 

' Come with me from Lebanon, 
My bride, with me from Lebanon, 
Look from the top of Amana, 
From the top of Shenir and of Hermon? 

And the bracing air from snow-fields and pine-forests 
wafts down 

The scent of Lebanon. 
There are the shepherds' black tents, the flocks of goats 

1 I feel no reason to depart in this verse from the Massoretic text. But see 
Cheyne in loco, who reads oaks for hinds. 9 Song ii. u-13 ; vii. 12. 



102 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



that swarm from Mount Gilead, the sheep that come up 
from the shearing and washing, and the strange pomp 
which now and then, passes by the high road across 
North Israel from Egypt to Damascus — royal litters, 
chariots, and regiments with banners, heralded by clouds 
of dust. 

1 / have likened thee, O my love, 
To a horse among the chariots of Pharaoh.' 1 

5 What is this coming up from the wilderness 
Like pillars of smoke t 
Behold ! it is Solomon's palanquin j 
Threescore mighty men are around it, 
Of the mighty of Israel ; 
All of them grasping the sword, 
Experts in war. 

Every man with sword on his thigh, • 
Against the alarms of the night? 2 

' Who is she that looketh forth like the dawn. 

Fair as the moon, pure as the sun, 

Glorious as bannered hosts ? ' 3 
' / went down into the garden of nuts, 

To see the fruits of the valley j 

To see whether the vine flourished, 

The pomegranates budded. 

Or ever I knew, 

My soul had brought me on the chariots of my willing people.' * 

The text of the last verse is evidently corrupt, but the 
sense is clear. The country girl has gone down into 
the valley, where she thinks herself alone with the nut- 
trees and pomegranates, when suddenly a military troop, 
marching by the valley road, surprise her. We shall see, 
when we come to Galilee, that the character of that pro- 
vince is to be a garden, crossed by many of the world's 

1 Song i. 9. 2 iii. 6-8- 3 Imposing. 4 vi. 10-12. 



The Scenery of the Land 



103 



high-roads. Nothing could better illustrate this character 
than the procession and pomp, the chariots and banners, 
which break through the rural scenery of the Song of 
Songs. 

We have no space here for the Hundred and Fourth 
Psalm, and must refer the reader to the Revised Version 
of it. He will find a more comprehensive 

Ps<iliD civ, 

view of the Holy Land than in any other 
Scripture, for it embraces both atmosphere and scenery, — 
wind, water and light, summer and winter, mountain, 
valley and sea, man and the wild beasts. 

Before we pass from the scenery, it may be well to 
draw the reader's attention to one feature of its descrip- 
tion in the Old Testament. By numerous little tokens, 
we feel that this is scenery described by Highlanders : 
by men who, for the most part, looked down upon their 
prospects and painted their scenes from above. Their 
usual word for valley is depth 1 — something below them; 
for terror and destruction some of their com- 
monest names mean originally abyss. 2, God's a Highland 
unfathomable judgments are depths, for the 
narrow platform of their life fell eastward to an invisible 
depth ; their figure for salvation and freedom is a wide or 
a large place? Their stage slopes away from them, every 
apparition on it is described as coming up. And there is 
that singular sense, which I do not think appears in any 
other literature, but which pervades the Old Testament, 
of seeing mountain-tops from above. Israel treadeth upon 
his high places , as if mountain- tops were a common 
road ; and Jehovah marcheth upon His high places, as if 
it were a usual thing to see clouds below, and yet 



104 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



on the tops of hills. Joel looks from his high station 
eastward over the tops of the mountains that sink to the 
Dead Sea, and speaks of morn above the mountains broken 
and scattered upon them by the heavy thunder-clouds. 
And, finally, we owe to the high station of Israel, those 
long approaches and very distant prospects both of war 
and peace : the trails of armies across the plains in fire 
and smoke, the land spreading very far forth, and, though 
Israel was no- maritime people, the wonderful visions of 
the coast and the sea. 



CHAPTER V 
THE LAND AND QUESTIONS OF FAITH 



THE LAND AND QUESTIONS OF FAITH 



HESE questions have, no doubt, already suggested 



A themselves to the reader, and will do so again and 
again as he passes through the land — How far does the 
geography of Palestine bear witness to the truth and 
authenticity of the different books of the Bible ? How far 
does a knowledge of the land assist our faith as Chris- 
tians in the Word of God and Jesus Christ His Son ? 
It may be well for us, before we go through the land, to 
have at least the possibilities of its contribution to these 
arguments accurately defined, were it for no other reason 
than that it is natural to expect too much, and that a 
large portion of the religious public, and of writers for 
them, habitually exaggerate the evidential value of the 
geography and archaeology of Palestine, and by emphasis- 
ing what is irrelevant, especially in details, miss altogether 
the grand, essential contents of the Land's testimony tc 
the divine origin of our religion. 

We have seen how freshly the poetry and narrative of 
the Bible reflect the natural features of Palestine both in 
outline and in detail. Every visitor to the land has felt this. 
Napoleon himself may be quoted : ' When camping on 
the ruins of those ancient towns, they read aloud Scripture 
every evening in the tent of the General-in-Chief. The 
analogy and the truth of the descriptions were striking : 




107 



io8 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



they still fit this country after so many centuries and 
changes.' 1 This is not more than the truth, yet it does 
not carry us very far. That a story accu- 

Geographical 

accuracy of rately reflects geography does not necessarily 

Scripture ... , . . , . 

mean that it is a real transcript of history — 
else were the Book of Judith the truest man ever wrote, 
instead of being what it is, a pretty piece of fiction. 
Many legends are wonderful photographs of scenery. 
And, therefore, let us at once admit that, while we may 
have other reasons for the historical truth of the patriarchal 
narratives, we cannot prove this on the ground that their 
itineraries and place-names are correct. Or, again, that 
the Book of Joshua, in marking tribal boundaries, gives us 
a detailed list of towns, the most of which we are able to 

identify, does not prove anything about the 

not proof of 

historical date or authorship of these lists, nor the fact of 
the deliberate partition of the land in Joshua's 
time. Again, that Israel's conquests under Moses on 
the east of the Jordan went so far north as described, is not 
proved by the discovery in these days of the various 
towns mentioned. In each of these cases, all that is proved 
is that the narrative was written in the land by some one 
who knew the land, and this has never been called in 
question. The date, the accuracy of the narrative, will 
have to be discussed on other grounds. All that geography 
can do is to show whether or not the situations were pos- 
sible at the time to which they are assigned, and even 
this is a task often beyond her resources. 

1 1 En campant sur les ruines de ces anciennes villes, on lisait tous les soirs 
i'Ecriture Sainte a haute voix sous la tente du general en chef. L'analogie 
et la ve'rite' des descriptions £taient frappantes ; elles conviennent encore a 
ce pays apres tant de siecles et de vicissitudes.' — Campagncs d'ligypte et de 
Syrit, dicties par NapoUon lui-mfme^ vol. ii. (see p. 19 of this vol.). 



The Land and Questions of Faith 



109 



At the same time, there are in the Old Testament 
pictures of landscape, and especially descriptions of the 
geographical relations of Israel, which we cannot help 
feeling as testimonies of the truth of the narratives in 
which they occur. If, for instance, you can to-day follow 
the description of a battle by the contours, features, and 
place-names of the landscape to which it is assigned, that 
surely is a strong, though not, of course, a 

„ , r , , , . . . \ Battle-fields. 

final, proof that such a description is true. In 
this connection one thinks especially of the battles of the 
Vale of Elah, Michmash, and Jezreel. And certainly it is 
striking that in none of the narratives of these is there 
any geographical impossibility. Again, nothing that the 
Pentateuch tells us about the early movements of the 
Philistines and the Hittites disagrees with the Early 
other evidence we possess from geography and ""g^ 10115 - 
archaeology ; 1 while Israel's relations to the Philistines, 
in the record of the Judges and early Kings, contrasted 
with her relations to the same people in the prophetic 
period, is in exact accordance with the data of the his- 
torical geography of Syria. 2 

As to questions of authorship, the evidence of geography 
mainly comes in support of a decision already settled by 
other proofs. In this matter one thinks especially of the 
accurate pictures of the surroundings of Jerusalem given 
in the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, both of them 
her citizens, contrasted with the very different 
geographical reflection on the earlier pro- MdlShen- 
phecies of Ezekiel, or the second half of the tlclty ' 
Book of Isaiah. Geography, too, assists us in the analysis 
of the composite books of the Old Testament into their 

1 See chapter on the Philistines, p. 172. 1 Ibid. p. 178. 



r to The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



various documents, for in the Pentateuch, for instance, 
each document has often its own name for the same 
locality, and as has just been said, the geographical reflec- 
tion on the first half of the Book of Isaiah is very different 
from that on the second half. 1 But in the Old Testament 
geography has little contribution to make to any question 
of authenticity, for, with the exceptions stated above, the 
whole of the Old Testament is admitted to have been 
written by natives of Palestine, who were familiar with 
their land. 

It is different, however, with the New Testament, where 
authorship outside Palestine is sometimes a serious possi- 
bility. Here questions of authenticity are closely bound 
up with those of geographical accuracy. Take the case 
of the Gospel of St. John. It has been held that the 
writer could not have been a native of Palestine, because 
of certain errors which are alleged to occur in his descrip- 
tion of places. I have shown, in a chapter on the Ques- 
tion of Sychar, that this opinion finds no support in the 
passage most loudly quoted in its defence. 2 And, again, 
the silence of the synoptic Gospels concerning cities on 
the Lake of Galilee, like Tiberias and Taricheae, which 
became known all over the Roman world in the next 
generation, and their mention of places not so known, has 
a certain weight in the argument for the early date of 
the Gospels, and for the authorship of these by contem- 
poraries of Christ's ministry. 8 

But if on all such questions of date, authorship, and 
accuracy of historical detail, we must be content to admit 



1 Duhm thinks he can make out that part of Isaiah, xl.-lxvi., was composed 
in Lebanon. * Ch. xviiL 

* See chapter on the Lake of Galilee, ch. xxi. 



The Land and Questions of Faith 



1 1 1 



that geography has not much more to contribute than a 
proof of the possibility of certain solutions, it is very dif- 
ferent when we rise to the higher matters of Higher 
the religion of Israel, to the story of its origin q uestions - 
and development, to the appearance of monotheism, and 
to the question of the supernatural. On these the testi- 
mony of the historical geography of the Holy Land is 
high and clear. 

For instance, to whatever date we assign the Book 
of Deuteronomy, no one who knows the physical consti 
tution of Palestine, and her relation to the 

r . Deuteronomy 

great desert, can fail to feel the essential and the 
truthfulness of the conception, which rules in Prop,ets ' 
that book, of Israel's entrance into the land as at once a 
rise in civilisation from the nomadic to the agricultural 
stage of life, and a fall in religion from a faith which the 
desert kept simple to the rank and sensuous polytheism 
that was provoked by the natural variety of the Paradise 
west of Jordan. 1 Or take another most critical stage of 
Israel's education : no one can appreciate the prophets' 
magnificent mastery of the historical forces of their time, 
or the wisdom of their advice to their people, who has 
not studied the relations of Syria to Egypt and Mesopo- 
tamia or the lines across her of the campaigns of these 
powers. 

But these are only details in larger phenomena. In the 
economy of human progress every race has had its office 
to fulfil, and the Bible has claimed for Israel Tbe training 
the specialism of religion. It represents Israel ofIsrael - 
as brought by God to the Holy Land — as He also carried 
other peoples to their lands — for the threefold purpose of 

1 See chapter iii. . especially pp. 89, oo. 



1 1 2 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



being preserved through all the changes of ancient his- 
tory, of being educated in true religion, and sent 
forth to the world as apostles and examples. But how 
could such a people be better framed than by selec- 
tion out of that race of mankind which have been most 
distinguished for their religious temperament, and by 
settlement on a land both near to, and aloof from, the 
main streams of human life, where they could be at once 
spectators of history and yet not its victims, where they 
could at once enjoy personal communion with God and 
yet have some idea also of His providence of the whole 
world ; where they could at once gather up the experi- 
ence of the ancient world, and break with it into the 
modern ? There is no land which is at once so much 
a sanctuary and an observatory as Palestine : no land 
which, till its office was fulfilled, was so swept by the 
great forces of history, and was yet so capable of pre- 
serving one tribe in national continuity and growth : one 
tribe learning and suffering and rising superior to the 
successive problems these forces presented to her, till 
upon the opportunity afforded by the last of them she 
launched with her results upon the world. It is the 
privilege of the student of the historical geography of 
Palestine to follow all this process of development in 
detail. If a man can believe that there is no directing hand 
behind our universe and the history of our race, he will, of 
course, say that all this is the result of chance. But, for 
most of us, only another conclusion ir possible. It may 
best be expressed in the words of one vho was no theo- 
logian but a geographer — perhaps the most scientific 
observer Palestine has ever had. Karl Ritter says of 
Palestine : ' Nature and the course of history shows that 



The Land and Questions of Faith 



here, from the beginning onwards, there cannot be talk of 
any chance/ 1 

But while the geography of the Holy Land has this 

positive evidence to offer, it has also negative evidence to 

the same end. The physical and political con- 
Geography 

ditions of Israel's history do not explain all the and moral 

forces, 

results. Over and over again we shall see the 
geography of the land forming barriers to Israel's growth, by 
surmounting which the moral force that is in her becomes 
conspicuous. We shall often be tempted to imagine that 
Israel's geography, physical and political, is the cause of 
her religion ; but as often we shall discover that it is only 
the stage on which a spirit — that, to use the words of the 
prophets, is neither in her mountains nor in her men — 
rises superior alike to the aids and to the obstacles which 
these contribute. This is especially conspicuous in the 
case of Israel's monotheism. Monotheism was born not, 
as M. Renan says, in Arabia, but in Syria. 

aii c- i Monotheism. 

And the more we know of Syria and of the 
other tribes that inhabited her, the more we shall be 
convinced that neither she nor they had anything to 
do with the origin of Israel's faith. For myself, I can 
only say that all I have seen of the land, and read of 
its ancient history, drives me back to the belief that the 
monotheism which appeared upon it was ultimately due 
to the revelation of a character and a power which carried 
with them the evidence of their uniqueness and divine 
sovereignty. 

But the truth and love of God have come to us in their 

1 ' Die Natur und der Hergang der Geschichte zeigt uns dass hier von 
Anfang an von keiner Zufalligkeit die Rede sein kann.' — K. Ritter, Etn 
Blick auf Paldstina u. seine christliche Bevolkerung. 

H 



1 14 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



highest power not as a book, even though that be the 
Bible, nor as a doctrine, even though that be the mono- 
The incar- theism of the Bible, with all its intellectual and 
nation. moral consequences, but as a Man, a native 
and a citizen of this land : whose education was its history, 
whose temptation was some of its strongest political forces, 
who overcame by loyalty to its distinctive gospel, 1 who 
gathered up the significance of its history into Himself, and 
whose ministry never left its narrow limits. He drew His 
parables from the fields its sunshine lights, and from all 
the bustle of its daily life ; He prayed and agonised for us 
through its quiet night scenes ; He vindicated His mission 
to mankind in conflict with its authorities, and He died for 
the world on one of its common places of execution. For 
our faith in the Incarnation, therefore, a study of the his- 
torical geography of Palestine is a necessary discipline. 
Besides helping us to realise the long preparation of his- 
tory, Jewish and Gentile, for the coming of the Son of God, 
a vision of the soil and climate in which He grew up and 
laboured is the only means of enforcing tne reality of His 
manhood. It delivers us, on the one hand, from those 
abstract views of His humanity which have so often been 
the error and curse of Christianity ; and, on the other 
hand, from what is to-day a more present danger — the 
interpretation of Christ (prevalent with many of our 
preachers to the times) as if He were a son of our own 
generation. 

The course of Divine Providence in Syria has not been 
one of mere development and cultivation, of building and 
planting. It has been full also of rebuke and frustra- 
tion, of rooting up and tearing down. Judgment has 
1 See pp. 35-37- 



The Land and Questions of Faith 1 1 5 



all along mingled with mercy. Christ Himself did not 
look forward to the course of the history of the kingdom 
which he founded as an unchecked advance to universal 
dominion. He took anything but an optimistic view of 
the future of His Church. He pictured Himself not 
only as her King and Leader to successive victories, 
but as her Judge : revisiting her suddenly, and finding 
her asleep ; separating within her the wise from the 
foolish, the true from the false, the pure from the cor- 
rupt, and punishing her with sore and awful calamities. 
Ought we to look for these visitations only at the end 
of the world ? Have we not seen them already fulfilled 
in the centuries ? Has not the new Israel been punished 
for her sin, as Israel of old was, by the historical powers 
of war, defeat, and captivity ? 

It is in the light of these principles of Christ's teach- 
ing that we are to estimate the mysterious victory of 
Mohammedanism over Christianity on the Christ ianity 
very theatre of our Lord's revelation. The and Islam - 
Christianity of Syria fell before Islam, because it was 
corrupt, and deserved to fall. And again, in attempting 
by pureiy human means to regain her birthplace, the 
Church was beaten back by Islam, because she was divided, 
selfish, and worldly. In neither of these cases was it 
a true Christianity that was overthrown, though the true 
Christianity bears to this day the reproach and the 
burden of the results. The irony of the Divine Judg- 
ment is clearly seen in this, that it was on the very land 
where a spiritual monotheism first appeared that the 
Church was first punished for her idolatry and mate- 
rialism ; that it was in sight of scenes where Christ 
taught and healed and went about doing good with 



1 1 6 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



His band of poor, devoted disciples, that the envious, 
treacherous, truculent hosts of the Cross were put to 
sword and fire. They who in His name sought a 
kingdom of this world by worldly means, could not hope 
to succeed on the very fields where He had put such 
a temptation from Him. The victory of Islam over 
Christendom is no more an obstacle to faith than the 
victory of Babylonia over Israel upon the same stage. 
My threshing-floor, said God of these mountains, and so 
they proved a second time. The same ethical principles 
by which the prophets explain the overthrow of Israel 
account for the defeat of Christianity. If the latter teach us, 
as the former taught them, the folly of making a political 
kingdom the ambition of our faith, the fatality of seeking 
to build the Church of God by intrigue and the sword, if 
it drive us inward to the spiritual essence of religion and 
outward to the Master's own work of teaching and healing, 
the Mohammedan victory will not have been in vain any 
more than the Babylonian. Let us believe that what 
Christ promised to judge by the visitations of history is 
not the World, but His Church, and let us put our own 
house in order. Then the reproach that rests on Palestine 
will be rolled away. 



CHAPTER VI 
THE VIEW FROM MOUNT EBAL 



For this Chapter consult Maps I. and III. 



THE VIEW FROM MOUNT EBAL 



IT may assist the reader to grasp the various features of 
the Holy Land, which we have been surveying in the 
last four chapters, if he be helped to see it with his own 
eyes as it lies to-day. The smallness of Palestine enables 
us to make this view nearly complete from two points. 

First let us stand off the land altogether, and take its 
appearance from the sea. As you sail north from Jaffa, 
what you see is a straight line of coast in alter- Palestine frora 
nate stretches of cliff and sand, beyond this a the sea - 
plain varying from eight to thirty miles in width, and then 
the Central Range itself, a persistent mountain-wall of 
nearly uniform level, rising clear and blue from the slopes 
which buttress it to the west. How the heart throbs as 
the eye sweeps that long and steadfast sky-line ! For 
just behind, upon a line nearly coincident with the water- 
parting between Jordan and the sea, lie Shechem, Shiloh, 
Bethel, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron. Of only one 
of these does any sign appear. Towards the north end of 
the range two bold round hills break the sky-line, with 
evidence <** a deep valley between them. The hills are 
Ebal and Gerizim, and in the valley — the only real pass 
across the range — lies Nablus, anciently Shechem. 

That the eye is thus drawn from the first upon the 

no 



1 20 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



position of Shechem — and we shall see that what is thus 
true of the approach from the west is also true of that from 
the east — while all the other chief sites of Israel's life lie 
hidden away, and are scarcely to be seen till you come 
upon them, is a remarkable fact, which we may emphasise 
in passing. It is a witness to the natural, and an explana- 
tion of the historical, precedence which was enjoyed by 
this northern capital over her more famous sister, Jeru- 
salem. 

But now let us come on to the land itself, and take our 
second point of view at this, its obvious centre. Of the 
two hills beside Shechem, Gerizim is the more 

The view 

from Mount famous historically, but Ebal is higher, and has 

EbaJ. 

the further prospect. The view from Ebal 
virtually covers the whole land, with the exception of the 
Negeb. All the four long zones, two of the four frontiers, 
specimens of all the physical features, and most of the 
famous scenes of the history, are in sight. No geography 
of Palestine can afford to dispense with the view from the 
top of Ebal. In detail it is this : 

Looking south, you have at your feet the pass through 
the range, with Nablus ; then over it the mass of Gerizim, 
with a ruin or two ; and then twenty-four miles of hill-tops, 
at the back of which you dimly discern a tower. That 
is Neby Samwil, the ancient Mizpeh. Jerusalem is only 
five miles beyond, and to the west the tower overlooks 
the Shephelah. Turning westwards, you see — nay, you 
almost feel — the range letting itself down, by irregular 
terraces, on to the plain ; the plain itself flattened by the 
height from which you look, but really undulating to 
mounds of one and two hundred feet ; beyond the plain 
the gleaming sandhills of the coast and the infinite blue 



The View from Mount Ebal 1 2 1 



sea. Joppa lies south-west thirty-three miles ; Caesarea 
north-west twenty-nine. Turning northwards, we have the 
long ridge of Carmel running down from its summit, 
perhaps thirty-five miles distant, to the low hills that 
separate it from our range ; over the rest of this the hollow 
that represents Esdraelon ; over that the hills of Galilee in 
a haze, and above the haze the glistening shoulders of 
Hermon, at seventy-five miles of distance. Sweeping 
south from Hermon, the eastern horizon is the edge of 
Hauran above the Lake of Galilee, continued by the edge 
of Mount Gilead exactly east of us, and by the edge of 
Moab, away to the south-east. This line of the Eastern 
Range is maintained at a pretty equal level, nearly that on 
which we stand, 1 and seems unbroken, save by the incoming 
valleys of the Yarmuk and the Jabbok. It is only twenty- 
five miles away, and on the near side of it lies the Jordan 
Valley — a great wide gulf, of which the bottom is out of 
sight On this side Jordan the foreground is the hilly 
bulwark of Mount Ephraim, penetrated by a valley coming 
up from Jordan into the plain of the Mukhneh to meet 
the pass that splits the range at our feet. 

The view is barer than a European eye desires, but soft- 
ened by the haze the great heat sheds over all. White 
clouds hang stagnant in the sky, and their shadows crouch 
below them among the hills, as dogs that wait for their 
masters to move. But I have also seen the mists, as low 
as the land, sweep up from the Mediterranean, and so 
deluge the range that, in a few hours, the valleys which 
lie quiet through the summer are loud with the rush of 
water and the rattle of stones ; and though the long trails 
of cloud wrap the summits, and cling about the hillsides, 

1 Ebal is 3077 feet 



122 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



the land looks barer and more raw than in the sunshine. 
The hills are brown, with here and there lighter shades, 
here and there darker. Look through the glass, and you 
see that the lighter are wheat-fields ripening, the darker 
are olive groves, sometimes two miles in extent, not thickly 
planted like woods in our land, but with the trees wide of 
each other, and the ground broken up beneath. Had we 
looked west even so recently as the Crusades, we should 
have seen Sharon one oak forest from coast to mountain. 
Carmel is green with its carobs and oak saplings. But 
near us the only great trees are the walnuts and sycomores 
of Nablus, immediately below. In valley-beds, or on the 
brow of a steep slope, but mostly occupying the tops of 
island-knolls, are the villages. There are no farmsteads, 
villas, or lonely castles, for the land is still what it has 
been from Gideon's and Deborah's time — a disordered 
land, where homes cannot safely lie apart. In all the 
prospect the one town, the most verdant valley, lie at our 
feet, and the valley flows out, on the east, to a sea of yellow 
corn that fills the plain below Gerizim. Anciently more 
villages would have been visible, and more corn, with 
vineyards where now ruined terrace walls add to the stoni- 
ness of the hills. In Herod's day the battlements of 
Caesarea and its great white temple above the harbour 
would have flashed to us in the forenoon sun ; behind 
Ebal the city of Samaria would have been still splendid 
and populous ; a castle would have crowned Gerizim , 
there would have been more coming and going on the 
roads, and the sound of trumpets would have risen oftener 
than it does to-day from the little garrison below. In 
Christian times we should have seen the flat architecture 
of the villages, which you can scarcely distinguish from the 



The View from Mount Ebal 123 



shelves of the mountains, break into churches, with high 
gables, cupolas, and spires. For the century of the feudal 
kingdom at Jerusalem, castles were built here and there, 
and under their shelter cloisters and farmsteads dared 
to be where they never could be before or since. That 
must have been one of the greatest changes the look of 
the land has undergone. 

But during all these ages the great long lines of the land 
would be spread out exactly in the same way as now — the 
straight coast, and its broad plain; the range that rolls 
from our feet north and south, with its eastern buttresses 
falling to the unseen bottom of the Jordan Valley, and 
across this the long level edge of the table-land of the 
East. 

It is on Ebal, too, that we feel the size of the Holy 
Land — Hermon and the heights of Judah both within 
sight, while Jordan is not twenty, nor the coast thirty 
miles away — and that the old wonder comes strongly 
upon us of the influence of so small a province on the 
history of the whole world. But the explanation is also 
within sight. Down below us, at the mouth of the glen, 
lies a little heap of brown stones. 1 The road comes up to 
it by which the patriarchs first entered the land, and the 
shadow of a telegraph post falls upon it. It is Jacob's 
well : Neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall ye 
worship the Father ; but the time cometh y and now is, when 
true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in 
truth. 

1 Or did when the writer was there in 1891 ; but the Greelc Church have 
begun to build over it. 



BOOK II 
WESTERN PALESTINE 

CHAPTER VII 
THE COAST 



For this Chapter consult Maps Z, ZZ, IV. % V.. VI. 



THE COAST 



Ante importuosas Asceloni ripas. 



VERY one remembers, from the map, the shape of 



-1- <*. the east end of the Levant. An almost straight line 
runs from north to south, with a slight inclina- 



tion westward. There is no large island off 
it, and upon it no deep estuary or fully sheltered gulf. North 
of the headland of Carmel nature has so far assisted man 
by prompting here a cape, and dropping there an islet, that 
not a few harbours have been formed which have been, and 
may again become, historical. When we remember that 
the ships of antiquity were small, propelled by oars and 
easily beached, we understand how these few advantages 
were sufficient to bring forth the greatest maritime nation 
of the ancient world — especially with the help of the 
mountains behind, which, pressing closely on the coast, 
compelled the population to push seaward for the means 
of livelihood. 

South of Carmel the Syrian coast has been much more 
strictly drawn. The mountains no longer come so near to 
it as to cut up the water with their roots. But South of 
sandhills and cliffs, from thirty to a hundred CarmeL 
feet high, run straight on to the flat Egyptian delta, with- 
out either promontory or recess. A forward rock at 
'Athlit, two curves of the beach at Tanturah, twice low 




Phoenicia. 



117 



128 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



reefs — at Abu Zaburah and Jaffa — the faint promise of a 
dock in the inland basin of Askalon, with the barred mouths 
of five or six small streams 1 — such are all the possibilities 
of harbourage on this coast. The rest is merely a shelf for 
the casting of wreckage and the roosting of sea-birds. The 
currents are parallel to the coast, and come north laden 
with sand and Nile-mud, that helps to choke the few faint 
estuaries and creeks. 2 It is almost always a lee-shore ; 
the prevailing winds are from the south-west. 

Of this natural inhospitality two consequences followed 
in the history of the land. In the first place, no invader 
ever disembarked an army south of Carmel, till the country 
behind the coast was already in his power. Even invaders 
from Europe— the Philistines themselves (if indeed they 
No natural came from Crete), 3 Alexander, Pompey, the 
harbours. £ rst c rusa ders, and Napoleon — found their way 
into Palestine by land, either from Egypt or from Asia 
Minor. Other Crusaders disembarked farther north, at 
Acre or Tyre, and in the Third Crusade, Richard, though 
assisted by a fleet, won all the coast fortresses south of 
Carmel from the land. 4 But again, this part of the coast 
has never produced a maritime people. It is true that the 
name Phoenicia once extended as far south as Egypt ; 6 

1 The mouth of the Rubin is seventy yards across, and six feet deep, yet 
by the bar, amoncellement du sable, it can be forded : Guer'xn, Judee, ii. 53. 

2 Admiralty Charts, 2633, 2634. Cf. Otto Ankel, Grundzugc der Landes- 
natur des Westjordanlandes, 32, 33. Thus the Nile has not only created 
Egypt, but helped to form the Syrian coast. * See pp. 170 f. 

4 Richard had come to Acre by Cyprus. Philip Augustus and Konrad 
landed at Acca. Frederick II., in 1228, came by Cyprus to Batrun, south of 
Tripoli. In the Middle Ages the galleys leaving Venice or Genoa touched at 
Corfu, Crete, Rhodes, and Cyprus, from which they made for Jaffa as the 
nearest port to Jerusalem. See Felix Fabri (in P.P. 7\ Series), vol. i. 

6 So Strabo. Josephus xv. Antt. ix. 6 ; Pliny, Hist. Nat. v. 14, speaks 
of Joppa of the Phoenicians. 



The Coast 



Phoenician masonry has been uncovered at Tanturah, the 
name of 'Arsuf is probably derived from the Phoenician 
god Reseph, 1 and we have records of Sidonian supremacy 
at various times over Dora and Joppa, as of Tyrian over 
Joppa and Askalon. 2 But the Phoenicians cannot be said 
to have been at home south of Carmel. Phoenicia proper 
lay to the north of that headland ; from Carmel to Egypt 
the tribes were agricultural, or interested in the land trade 
alone. It was not till a seafaring people like the Greeks 
had planted their colonies in Sharon and Philistia that 
great harbours were seriously attempted. Of this a striking 
illustration is given by the generic name of the landing- 
places from Gaza to Caesarea. This is not Semitic but 
Greek : El-mineh, by a very usual transposition of the 
vowel and consonant of the first syllable, is the Greek 
Litnen ; 3 Leminah is still in the Talmud the name for the 
port of Caesarea. 4 The other name for harbour on this 
coast, Maiumas, has not yet been explained. 6 

1 See Survey Memoirs, ii. p. 137 ff. Clermont-Ganneau, Reeueil 
ct Arckeologie Oriental It is M. Ganneau who has proposed the interesting 
identification of Horus, Reseph, Perseus, and St. George. The myths of 
Perseus and St. George were both born on this coast, see p. 162. A stone 
hawk, which he maintains is the symbol of Horus, was found at 'Arsuf. He 
adds that Reseph was probably equivalent to Apollo, and in Egypt Apollo 
and Horus were equal. But the classical name of 'Arsuf, Apollonia, cannot be 
used to assist this identification. It was probably conferred by Apollonius, son 
of Thraseas, who governed Ccele-Syria for Seleucus Antipater, i Mace. x. 69 ff. 
It was rebuilt by Gabinius in 57 B.C. , in the Crusades it was besieged by Godfrey, 
taken by Baldwin, again by Richard ; Louis restored the fortifications, and it 
was finally destroyed by Bibars in 1265. Cf. again Clermont-Ganneau in 
P.E.F.Q., 1896. 

2 Inscription of Eshmunazar, 11. 18, 19, in the C./.S., i. 19, 20, which 
records the grant of Dora and Joppa to Sidon. Scylax {Geographi Grceci 
Minores, ed. Miiller, i. 79) assigns Dora to the Sidonians and Askalon to the 
Tyrians during the Persian period. For Phoenician trade with Joppa, cf. 
Jonah i. 3, 2 Chron. iv, 16. But the name of Joppa is not inserted in the 
parallel passage in I Kings v. 3 Like 'Arsuf from Reseph. 

4 7]Wb> Talmud Jerus. Gittin, i. 1. Cf. Conder, Tent Work, p. 283. 
9 Conder makes it equivalent to watering-place. 



130 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



But the failure even of these attempts to establish 
permanent ports for deep-sea vessels is a yet stronger 
Wrecked proof of the inhospitable character of the coast. 

harbours. Let us take them j n ser j £S f rom fa e nort h. 

'Athlit has twice been held against all the rest of Palestine. 
In 130 A.D. it was the last stronghold of Jewish independ- 
ence : in the thirteenth century it was the last fortress of 
the Cross. 1 Yet seaward f Athlit is unsheltered. The blunt 
foreland suggests the only kind of harbour possible on the 
Syrian shore — a double port facing north and south, whose 
opposite basins might compensate for each other's ex- 
posure ; yet no such harbour seems to have been attempted. 
The Crusading ruins at 'Athlit are numerous and solid ; 
there is a castle, a church, and remains of a mighty sea- 
wall. Yet the men who built these built out into the sea 
nothing but a jetty that is now covered by the waves. 
Farther south at Tanturah, the ancient Dor, Merla, or La 
Merle of the Crusaders, 2 there are also great buildings 
and the suggestion of a double harbour. If this was 
ever achieved, it has disappeared, and only a few coasting 
vessels now put in to the unprotected rock. Cssarea had 
a great port ; yet nothing but part of its mole remains. 
Within the reefs at Minet 'Abu Zaburah the inhabitants of 
Xablus used to keep a few boats, but little masonry is 
visible. 3 At 'Arsuf, 4 there is a tiny harbour, yawning thirty 
feet between a jetty and a reef; it is used by fishermen. 
Every one knows the open roadstead at Jaffa, with the reefs 
that are more dangerous in foul weather than they are 

1 It was known then as Castellum Pcrcgtinorum. 

- On Dor see further, ch. xix. On La Merle, cf. Geoffrey de Vinsauf, 
Ttinerarium Ruardi, iv. 14. 
1 The famous water-melons of Mukhalid are exported from here. 

* See p. 129. 



The Coast 



useful in fair. 1 In olden days Jamnia had a Limen at the 
mouth of the Nahr Rubin, but the Minet Rubin, as it is 
now called, is a little way off this, and by a few rocks 
with some masonry provides only a landing-place for small 
boats. 2 The Limen of Ashdod is now the Minet-el-Kulah, 
with a landing-place between reefs ' at which ships occa- 
sionally touch.' 3 At Askalon there are visible at low water 
two shallows of crescent shape, which are perhaps remains 
of ancient moles, and at the bottom of the rocky basin, in 
which the mediaeval city was confined, explorers think they 
can trace the lines of a little dock ; but the sand, which 
drifts so fast up the coast, has choked the dock, and in the 
sea there is only a jetty left. 4 The Limen of Gaza was 
once a considerable town, if we may judge from the ruins 
that still break from the sand, but the beach is now straight 
and low, and the roadstead as unsheltered as Jaffa. 

Thus, while the cruelty of many another wild coast is 
known by the wrecks of ships, the Syrian shore south of 
Carmel is strewn with the fiercer wreckage of harbours. 

I have twice sailed along this coast on a summer after- 
noon with the western sun thoroughly illuminating it, and I 
remember no break in the long line of foam where land 
and sea met, no single spot where the land gave way and 
welcomed the sea to itself. On both occasions the air 
was quiet, yet all along the line there was disturbance. 
It seemed as if the land were everywhere saying to the 
sea: I do not wish you, I do not need you. And this 
echoes through most of the Old Testament. Here the 
sea spreads before us for spectacle, for symbol, for music, 

1 Pliny's description {H.N., v. 14) suits the Jaffa of to-day: ' Insidet 
collem prsejacente saxo.' 2 Guerin, ii. 54. 

3 P.E.F. Mem. i., all signs of a harbour are covered with drifting sands. 

4 Z D. P. V. % ii. 164, with a plan. Guerin, Jiidh> ii. 155. 



132 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



for promise, but never for use — save in one case, when 
a prophet sought it as an escape from his God. 1 In the 
The coast Psalms the straight coast serves to illustrate 
in scripture. the i rremov able limits which the Almighty 
has set between sea and land. In the Prophets its roar 
and foam symbolise the futile rage of the heathen beat- 
ing on Jehovah's steadfast purpose for His own people : 
Ah I the booming of the peoples, the multitudes — like the 
booming of the seas they boom ; and the rushing of the 
nations, like the rushing of mighty waters they rush ; nations 
— like the rushing of many waters they rush. But He 
checketh it, and it fleeth far away, and is chased like chaff 
on the mountains before the wind, and like swirling dust 
before a whirlwind? 

As in the Psalms and the Prophets, so also in the His- 
tory the sea was a barrier and not a highway. From the 
first it was said : Ye shall have the Great Sea for a border? 
Throughout the language the sea is a horizon : the Hebrew 
name for the West is the Sea. There were three tribes, 
of whom we have evidence that they reached the maritime 
frontier appointed for them : Dan, who in Deborah's time 
was remaining in ships,* but he speedily left them and his 
bit of coast at Joppa for the far inland sources of Jordan ; 
and Asher and Zebulon, whose territory was not south 
but north of Carmel. Even in their case no ports are 
mentioned, the word translated haven, in the blessing of 
Zebulon and in the blame of Asher, 6 being but beach, land 
washed by the sea, and the word translated creeks meaning 

1 Though in another they, that go down to the sea in ships and do 
business in great waters, are Hebrews, worshippers of Jehovah, Ps. cvii. 
23, 24. 

2 Isa. xvii. 12, 13. 8 Num. xxxiv. 6. 

4 Tudce* v. 17. See jv 17a. 5 Gen. xlix. 13 ; Judges v. 17. 



The Coast 



*33 



no more than just cracks or breaks. Again, when the 
builders of the second temple hire Phoenicians to bring 
timber from Lebanon to Joppa, it is not written ' to the 
harbour or creek of Joppa,' but to the sea of Joppa?- So 
that the only mention of a real harbour in the Old Testa- 
ment is in the general picture of the storm in Psalm cvii., 
where the word used means refuge. Of the name or idea 
of a port, gateway in or out, there is no trace ; and, as 
we have just seen, in the designation for the port of 
Caesarea in the Talmud, Leminah, and in the name still 
given to some landing-places on the Philistine coast, El- 
Mineh, it is no Semitic root, but the Greek Limen which 
appears. In this inability of their coast-line to furnish 
the language of Israel with even the suggestion of 
a port, we have the crowning proof of the peculiar 
security and seclusion of their land as far as the sea is 
concerned. 

We can now appreciate how much truth there is in the 
contrast commonly made between Palestine and Greece. 
In respect of security the two lands do not p a i es tine and 
much differ ; the physical geography of Greece Greece - 
is even more admirably adapted than that of Palestine 
for purposes of defence. But in respect of seclusion 
from the sea, and the world which could be reached 
by the sea, they differed entirely. Upon almost every 
league of his broken and embayed coast-line, the ancient 
Greek had an invitation to voyage. The sea came far 
inland to woo him : by island after island she tempted him 
across to other continents. She was the ready means to 
him of commerce, of colonising, and of all that change and 
adventure with other men, which breed openness,originality 

1 Etra iii. 7. 



1 34 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



and subtlety of mind. But the coast-line of the Jew was 
very different, and from his high inland station he saw it 
only far off — a stiff, stormy line, down the whole length 
of which as there was nothing to tempt men in, so there 
was nothing to tempt them out. 1 

The effect of a nation's physical environment upon their 
temper and ideals is always interesting, but can never be 
more than vaguely described. Whereas of even greater 
interest, and capable too of exact definition, because 
abrupt, imperious and supreme, is the manner in which a 
nation's genius, by sheer moral force and Divine inspiration, 
dares to look beyond its natural limits, feels at last too 
great for the conditions in which it was developed, and 
appropriates regions and peoples, towards which nature 
has provided it with no avenue. Such a process is 
nowhere more evident than in the history of Israel ; we 
find the history not only as in other lands, moulded by 
the geography, but also breaking the moulds/ and seeking 
imperiously new spheres. The first instance of this meets 
us now. In the development of the religious consciousness 
of this once desert tribe, there came a time when her eyes 
were lifted beyond that iron coast, and her face, in the 
words of her great prophet, became radiant and her heart 
large with the sparkle of the sea : for there is Utrned upon 
thee the seas flood-tide, and the wealth of the nations is 
coming unto thee. Who are these like a cloud that fly, and 
like doves to their windows ? Surely towards me the isles 
are stretching, and ships of Tarshish in the van, to bring 
thy sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to 

1 Hull (P.E.F. Memoir on Geology, etc., of Arabia Petrcea, Palestine, etc.) 
proves that, at no very remote date, the sea washed the foot of the hills. Had 
this lasted into historical times the whole history of Judaea and Samaria would 
have been utterly different. 



The Coast 



*35 



the name of Jehovah of Hosts and to the Holy of Israel, for 
He hath glorified thee. Isles here are any lands washed by 
the sea, but what the prophets had chiefly in view were 
those islands and coasts of the Mediterranean which were 
within physical sight of the Greek, but to the Hebrew 
could be the object only of spiritual ambition. Six of 
them at least are named in the Old Testament. r , 

The Isles. 

The nearest is Cyprus, whose people are called 
Kittim, from the ancient town of Kti or Kition. 1 Cyprus 
is not, of course, in sight of any part of the territories of 
Israel, but its hills can be seen at most times from those 
hills of northern Syria that are immediately opposite to 
them, and even from southern Lebanon above Beyrout, 
during a few weeks about midsummer, when the sun sets 
behind Mount Troodos, the peak of that mountain comes 
out black against the afterglow. 2 It was these glimpses of 
land in the setting sun, which first drew the Phoenicians 
westward, and from the Phoenicians the Israelites had their 
knowledge. Beyond Cyprus is Rhodes, and that was 
called Rodan among the Hebrews and its people Rodanim. 3 
Crete was known to them under the name Kaphtor. 4 
These, the only three islands of the Mediterranean men- 
tioned in the Old Testament, were evidently the line of 
Phoenician progress westward : they are also the three 
that occur in nearly every mediaeval voyage from Syria to 
Europe 6 Beyond them loomed to the Hebrews, farther and 

1 C./.S., i. 137 : cf. Gen. x. 4 ; Numbers xxiv. 24 ; Isaiah xxiii. 1, 12. 

' So Dr. Carslaw of Shweir and I saw it in July 1891 from a hill in front of 
Shweir, six hours from Beyrout, and 5000 feet above the Mediterranean. 

3 In Ezek. xxvii. 20, for pi Dedan read pi Rodan, and in Gen. x. 4, 
for D^ll Dodanim read D'Oll Rodanim, where the LXX. have'P63tot. 

* This is more probable than that Kaphtor should be Kaft-ur, an Egyptian 
name for the Delta. See notes on p. 170. 6 Cf. p. 128. n. 4. 



136 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



more uncertain coasts. The name Javan came from the 
Ionians or lafones, on the Asiatic shores of the ^Egean, 1 
but is used of all Greeks down to Alexander the Great. 2 
Tubal and Meshech, often mentioned with Javan, 3 were 
tribes in the interior of Asia Minor. Beyond Javan were 
the coasts of Elisha, 4 that was perhaps Sicily, and Tar- 
shish, the great Phoenician colony in Spain. To all oi 
these ships traded from Tyre and Sidon and Accho and 
Joppa. Their outward cargoes were Syrian wheat, oil, 
and balm, with Oriental wares, and they brought back 
cloth, purple and scarlet, silver, iron, tin, lead, and brass. 5 
Sometimes they carried west Hebrew slaves 6 and outlaws, 7 
forerunners of the great Dispersion. 

The isles shall wait for His law ; let them give glory to 
Jehovah, and publish His praise in the isles : unto Me the 
joppa and the ^ es s ^ a ^ hope. When, at last, the Jews got 
Maccabees. their first and only harbour, 8 it was such a 
prophecy as this which woke up within them. Of Simon 
Maccabeus the historian says : ' With all his glory he took 
Joppa for an haven, and made an entrance to the isles of 
the sea.' 9 The exultation of this statement — the glad 

1 Isa. lxvi. 19 ; Ezek. xxvii. 13, 19. In the last verse, for Dan also read 
Vcdan, which is unknown. 2 Daniel viii. 21 ; xi. 2. 

3 Gen. x. 2; Ezek. xxvii. 13. Tubal was the Tebarenians ; Meshech the 
Moschoi of Herodotus. Schrader, K.A.T., 82-84. 

4 Gen. x. 4, Elisha, son of Javan ; 1 Chron. i. 7 ; Ezek. xxvii. 7. 

5 Ezek. xxvii. 6, 12, 13, 17. 6 Amos ii. 9. 7 Jonah i. 3. 

8 Eziongeber was probably only held for them, and we are speaking now 
of the western coast. 

9 1 Mace. xiv. 5 : Kal ^icto. wdarjs 7-77S ddtjrjt avrov fKafie tt)v '\6irin}v ei'5 
Kiixiva nai iirotrjaev ettrodov reus vrjaois t9)s daXdaa-rjs. This was about 144 B.C. 
Jonathan Maccabeus had captured Joppa in 148 (1 Mace. x. 76), and in 145 
he had made Simon lord of the coast from the Ladder of Tyre to the Border 
of Egypt. But this lordship was only nominal, till the next year, when the 
Greek natives of Joppa being about to revolt, Simon occupied it with a force, 
and then, a few years later (about 141), fortified it. 



The Coast 



137 



'At last!' that is audible in it — was very natural; and 
we sympathise with it the more when we learn that this 
was not a mere military operation of Simon's, but, accord- 
ing to his light, a thoroughly religious measure. In those 
great days, when Jews took a town within the promised 
boundaries, they purged it of the heathen and their idols, 
and settled in it ' such men as would keep the Law/ 1 The 
Law, then, was at last established on the sea, with an open 
gate to the isles, and the people of Jehovah had more 
reason to be rapturous than at any time since the prophecies 
of their western progress were first uttered. Their hopes, 
however, were defeated by the rigour of the measures they 
took to fulfil them. In every town the Hellenised popu- 
lation 2 rose against this fanatic priest from the rude high- 
lands, with no right to the sea, and intrigued for the 
return of Antiochi or Ptolemies, who allowed them to 
worship their own gods. It was the old opposition between 
Philistia and Israel, on the old ground. Twice the Syrians 
retook Joppa, twice Hyrcanus (Simon's successor) won it 
back. Then, after twenty years of Jewish possession, 
Pompey came in 63 B.C., and decreed that, with the other 
coast towns, it should be free. 3 But in 47 Caesar excepted 
Joppa, 'which the Jews had originally/ and decreed 'it 
shall belong to them, as it formerly did ; 1 4 and later 
Augustus added it, with other cities, to Herod the Great's 

1 So Simon did at Gazara, 1 Mace. xiii. 47, and, we can understand, in 
Joppa also, though in a sea-town full of foreigners the task would be more 
difficult, and not so perfectly accomplished. 

2 In all the coast towns at this time, though the bulk of the common people 
were from the old stocks of the country, and spoke Aramaic, the upper classes 
were Greek, and Greek was the official language ; and the native deities were 
amalgamated with their Greek counterparts. 

3 Josephus xiv. Anlt. iv. 4 ; i. Wars, vii. 7 : 'He restored to their own 
citizens.' 4 Josephus xiv. Antt. x. 6. 



138 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



kingdom. 1 Joppa was therefore Jewish as no other town 
on the coast or Maritime Plain became, and so it con- 
tinued till the campaign of Vespasian in 68 A.D. And it 
was violently Jewish. Though Joppa was tributary to 
Herod he never resided there, or tried to rebuild it, or to 
plant heathen features upon it. Alone of the chief cities 
of the region, it had no Greek or Latin name attached to 
it. In close commerce with Jerusalem, Joppa was infected 
with the fanatic patriotism of the latter ; as there were rebels 
and assassins there, so there were rebels and pirates here. 
The spirit of disaffection towards Rome passed through the 
same crises in the coast town as in the capital. In the 
terrible outbreak of 66, when every other town of the 
Maritime Plain was divided into two camps, 2 and Jews 
and Hellenised Syrians massacred each other, Joppa alone 
remained Jewish, and it was Joppa that Cestius Gallus 
first attacked on his march to Jerusalem. 3 In the years 
before the Jews thus took to arms Joppa had doubtless 
been distinguished by the more peaceful exercises of the 
same Judaistic spirit. On ground which was free from 
heathen buildings and rites, the Pharisees must have 
imitated as far as possible the rigorous measures of the 
Maccabees, and cherished the ancient and noble hopes 
which the sea inspired in their race, along with many 
petty precautions against the foreigners whom it drifted to 
their feet. This was the state of affairs when Peter came 
down from Jerusalem to Joppa, and dreamt of things clean 
and unclean, on the housetop overlooking the harbour. 4 

If now we turn to the neighbouring Caesarea, we see as 
great a contrast as was possible on the same coast. Was 

1 Josephus xv. Anit. vii. 3 ; ii. IVars, vi. 3. 1 ii. Wars, xviii. 2. 

» lb. 10. 4 Acts x. 



The Coast 



139 



Joppa Jewish, national, patriotic, Csesarea was Herodian. 
Roman in obedience, Greek in culture. At first the 
Herodian strongholds had all lain on the east 
of Palestine, and for the most part in wild, 
inaccessible places, like Machaerus and Masada, as best 
became a family not sure of its station, and sometimes 
chased from power by its enemies. But when Herod won 
the favour of Augustus, and time made it clear that the 
power of Augustus was to be permanent, Herod came 
over the Central Range of Palestine, and on sites granted 
by his patron built himself cities that looked westward. 
He embellished and fortified both Jerusalem and Samaria. 
Then he looked for a sea-port. On the coast Augustus 
had given him Gaza, with Anthedon, Joppa and Straton's 
Tower. 1 He chose the last — Josephus says because it 
was more fit to be a sea-port than Joppa. But this 
was not so. The reasons of his choice were political. 
We must suppose, it was more important for Herod to 
have a harbour suited to Sebaste" than to Jerusalem, for 
Sebaste itself was nearer the sea and more in his own 
hands than the Holy City. Besides, Joppa, as we have 
seen, was national rather than Herodian in spirit. Straton's 
Tower was virtually a fresh site. Here Herod laid the 
lines of ' a magnificent city,' and spent twelve years in 
building it. 2 He erected sumptuous palaces and large 
edifices for 'containing the people,' a temple on raised 
ground, a theatre, and an amphitheatre with prospect to 
the sea. There were also a great number of arches, cellars, 
and vaults for draining the city, 'which had no less of 
architecture bestowed on them than had the buildings 

1 i. Wars, xx. 3. 

2 Josephus xv. Antt. ix. 6 ; but in xvi. Antt. v. i., 'ten years.' 



140 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



above ground; But the greatest work of all was the 
haven. A breakwater 200 feet wide was formed in twenty 
fathoms depth by dropping into the waves enormous 
stones. The half of it was opposed to the course of the 
waves, so as to keep off those waves which were to break 
upon it, and so was called Procymatia, or 1 first breaker of 
waves,' while the other half had upon it a wall with several 
towers. There were also a great number of arches, where 
the sailors lodged, and before them a quay, which ran 
round the whole haven, and ' was a most pleasant walk for 
such as had a mind to that exercise.' The entrance of the 
port was on 1 the north, on which side was the gentlest of 
all the winds in this place.' On the left of the entrance 
was a round turret, made very strong in order to meet the 
greatest waves, while on the right stood two enormous 
stones upright and joined together, each of them larger 
than the turret opposite. 1 To-day the mole is 160 yards 
from shore, and the mouth of the harbour measures 180. 2 
This immense haven had a name to itself — Sebastos Limen 
— which even dwarfed the name of the city, Caesarea. 3 
In later times the latter is called The Caesarea beside the 
August Harbour, 4 and Jews also, as we have seen, spoke of 
the Leminah by itself ; for it was the harbour — the first, 
the only real port upon that coast Caesarea speedily 
became, and long continued to be, the virtual capital of 
Palestine — the only instance of a coast town which ever 

1 Josephus xv. Antt. ix. 6, abridged. 3 P.E.F. Mem. ii. 

3 Kcuaapela 2e/Sacrr7y : Kaicrapeia Uapa\c6s, Kaiaapela r\ iwl daKdrTy. 
Caesarea Stratonis, Caesarea Palestinae, and, after Vespasian's time, Colonia 
Prima Flavia Augusta Caesarea. The last name in Pliny, Natural History, 
v. 69, and in a Latin inscription discovered in the neighbourhood. 

4 On a coin of Nero : KAI2APEIA H J2P02 SEBASTfi AIMENI. The 
coin is given in De Saulcy's Numismatiqiu dt la Terre Sainte, p. Il6. 



The Coast 



141 



did so. c Caesarea Judaeae caput est,' says Tacitus, 1 but 
he means the Roman province of that name. Judaean, in 
the true sense of the word, Caesarea never was. The 
gateway to Rome, the place was already a piece of Latin 
soil. 2 The procurator had his seat in it, there was an 
Italian garrison, and on the great white temple that shone 
out over the harbour to the far seas, stood two statues — of 
Augustus and of Rome. 3 It was heathendom in all its 
glory at the very door of the true religion ! Yes, but the 
contrast might be reversed. It was justice and freedom 
in the most fanatical and turbulent province of the world. 
In seeking separation from his people, and an open door 
to the West, Herod had secured these benefits for a nobler 
cause than his own, to which we now turn. 

Peter came to the Joppa which has been described, and 
it is interesting to note that he came by Lydda — in those 
days another great centre of Jewish feeling. p e terat 
It was Joppa, Lydda, and Jerusalem which J°ppa. 
Cestius Gall us singled out as the centres of the national 
revolt. 4 To Jewish Joppa Jewish Peter came ; and we 
can understand that as he moved about its narrow lanes, 
leading to the sea, where his scrupulous countrymen were 
jostled by foreign sailors and foreign wares, he grew more 
concerned than ever about the ceremonial law. While 
food was being prepared — observe the legal moment — he 
saw, above this jealous bit of earth, heaven opened, and a 
certain vessel descending as it had been a great sheet — 
perhaps the sail of one of these large Western ships in the 
offing — let down by the four corners to the earth, wherein 
1 Hist. ii. 78. 

3 The Jews called Caesarea the daughter of Edom — their symbolic name 
for Rome. Talmud Babyl. Megillah 6a. 
* Josephus as above. 4 ii. Wars, xviii. 10. 



142 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



were all the four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, 
and creeping things, and fowls of the air. A nd there came 
a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill and eat ! But Peter said, 
Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common 
or unclean. To his strict conscience the contents had been 
a temptation. And the voice said unto him a second time, 
What God hath cleansed call not thou common ! This was 
done thrice, and the vessel was received up into heaven again. 
And at ^he v i s i on took place in Joppa, but the fact 
Caesarea. was f u ifiu e d in freer Caesarea. Here, on what 
was virtually Gentile soil, and amid surroundings not very 
different from those of Paul's sermon on Areopagus, 1 Peter 
made his similar declaration, Of a truth I perceive that God 
is no respecter of persons ; but in every nation he that feareth 
Him and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him. Here, 
in a Roman soldier's house, in face of the only great port 
broken westward through Israel's stormy coast, the Gentile 
Pentecost took place, and on the Ge?itiles was poured out 
the gift of the Holy Ghost! 1 

Again, in the narrative of Paul's missions, Caesarea is 
the harbour by which he reaches Syria from Ephesus, 
Paul at an d from which he sails on his last voyage for 
Cassarea. Italy. 3 More significant still were his removal 
to Caesarea from Jerusalem, and the anxiety of the Jewish 
authorities to get him brought back to Jerusalem. 4 In the 
Holy City they would not give him a fair hearing ; his life 
was in danger, they lay in wait to kill him. In Caesarea 
he was heard to the end of his plea ; but for his appeal to 
Caesar, he would have been acquitted, and during two 

i Josephus says that the Limen of Caesarea was like the Piraeus; and the 
great temple and court of justice stood hard by. 2 Acts x. 

1 Acts xviii. 22 ; xxvii. i. 4 Acts xxv. 3, 



The Coast 



*43 



whole years in which he lived in the place, receiving his 
friends, and enjoying a certain amount of liberty — though 
the place had many Jewish inhabitants 1 — no one ventured 
to waylay him. There were only some sixty miles between 
Caesarea and Jerusalem, but in the year 60 Caesarea was 
virtually Rome. 

The subsequent history of Herod's harbour repeats what 
we have already learned of it. As long as the land was 
held by men with interests in the West, the „ 

' Caesarea in 

town triumphed over the unsuitableness of subsequent 

history. 

its site ; but when Palestine passed into the 
hands of an Eastern people, with no maritime ambitions, 
it dwindled, and was finally destroyed by them. Caesarea 
was Vespasian's head-quarters, equally opportune for 
Galilee, Samaria and Judaea, and there he was proclaimed 
Emperor in 69. He also established close by a colony 
under the title Prima Flavia Augusta Caesarea. Very early 
there was a Christian bishop of Caesarea, who became 
Metropolitan of Syria. Origen fled here, and Eusebius 
was Archbishop from 315-318. When the Moslems came, 
Caesarea was the head-quarters of Sergius, the Byzantine 
general : in 638 it was occupied by 'Abu 'Obeida. Under 
the Arabs its importance, of course, sank. The town 
continued opulent, but famous only for its agricultural 
products, 2 and Herod's splendid harbour must have fallen 
into decay. The town was left alone by the first Crusaders, 
but King Baldwin took it in 1 102, and thus passing once 
more into the hands of seafarers it was rebuilt, so that the 
ruins of to-day are mostly of Crusading masonry. 3 Saladin 

1 ii. Wars, xiv. 4. 

2 Mukaddasi in the tenth, and Nasir-i-Khusrau in the eleventh, cent, 
quoted by Le Strange, Pal. under Moslems, 474. 3 P.E.F. Mem. ii. 



144 Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



won it in 1187, and reduced it. 1 Richard took it back in 
1 191, and built it again. Louis of France added fortifica- 
tions. And then Sultan Bibars, consummating the policy 
of his race by that destructive march of his in 1265, on 
which every coast fortress was battered down, laid Caesarea 
low, and scattered its inhabitants. It is said that he 
himself, pick in hand, assisted at its demolition. 2 

When we come to deal with the strongholds of Samaria, 
we shall see how Sebaste, which is only some twenty-five 
miles inland from Caesarea, and has the same western 
exposure, has suffered similar changes of fortune according 
as an Eastern or a Western race dominated the country. 

* Boha-ed-din, Life of Saladin, ch. 35 2 M&krfej. 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE MARITIME PLAIN 



For this Chapter consult MaJ>s /., TV. y V. and VI 



THE MARITIME PLAIN 



BEYOND the forbidding coast there stretches, as you 
look east, a prospect of plain, the Maritime Plain — 
on the north cut swiftly down upon by Carmel, whose 
headland comes within 200 yards of the sea, but at 
CarmePs other end six miles broad, and thence gradually 
widening southwards, till at Joppa there are twelve miles, 
and farther south there are thirty miles between the far 
blue mountains of Judaea and the sea. The Maritime 
Plain divides into three portions. The north corner 
between Carmel and the sea is bounded on the south by 
the Crocodile River, the modern Nahr-el-Zerka, and is 
nearly twenty miles long. From the Crocodile River the 
Plain of Sharon, widening from eight miles Sharon 
to twelve, rolls southward, forty-four miles to 
the mouth of the Nahr Rubin and a line of low hills to 
the south of Ramleh. This country is undulating, with 
groups of hills from 250 to 300 feet high. To the north 
it is largely wild moor and marsh, with long tongues of 
sand running in from the coast. The marshes on the Zerka 
are intricate, and form the refuge of Arabs who keep them- 
selves free from the requisitions of the Turkish Govern- 
ment. There is one large oak-wood in the very north, and 
groves of the same tree scatter southward. These are the 
remains of a forest so extensive, that it sometimes gave its 

147 



148 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



name to the plain. The Septuagint translates Sharon by 
Drumos} Josephus describes it as the 1 place called the 
Forest,' 2 or ' The Forests,' 3 and Strabo calls it ' a great 
Forest.' 4 It is the same which the Crusaders named 
the Forest of Assur ; 5 Tasso the Enchanted Forest, 6 and 
Napoleon the Forest of Miski. 7 Scattered and ragged as 
it now is, like all the woodland of Palestine, it must origin- 
ally have swept all the way from the heights of Carmel to 
Ajalon. Besides the streams mentioned, the northern part 
of Sharon is crossed by a few other perennial waters — the 
Mufjir or Dead River of the Crusaders, 8 the Iskanderuneh 
or their Salt River, and the Falik or their Rochetaille. 9 
In the southern half of Sharon, south of the 'Aujeh and in 
front of the broad gulf of Ajalon, there is far more culti- 
vation — corn-fields, fields of melons,gardens, orange-groves, 
and groves of palms, with strips of coarse grass and sand, 
frequent villages on mounds, the once considerable towns 
of Jaffa, Lydda, and Ramleh, and the high road running 
among them to Jerusalem. To the south of the low hills 
Phiiistia or tnat bound Sharon, the Plain of Philistia rolls 
Daroma. on j. Q ^ r j ver G f Egypt, about forty miles, 
rising now and again into gentle ranges 250 feet high, and 
cut here and there by a deep gully, with running water. 
But Philistia is mostly level, nearly all capable of cultiva- 
tion, with few trees, and presenting the view of a vast 
series of corn-fields. Wells may be dug almost anywhere. 

1 Isaiah xxxv. , xxxvii. 24, lxv. 10. 2 i. IVars, xiii. 2. 

3 xiv. Antt. xiii. 3. 4 xvi. : 5pv/j.6s /xtya j ris. 

6 Vinsauf, Itin. Ricardi, iv. 16. One of the feudal manors of the neigh- 
bourhood was called Casale de la Forest. Rohricht, Studien zur mittelalt. 
Geog. u. Topogr. Syrien's Z.D.P. V. x. 200. 

8 Gerusalemmc Liberata, ii. and xiii. 

7 From the present village of Miskieh. 

• But see Rohricht as above, p. 251. * Vinsauf, Itin. Ric. iv. 17. 



The Maritime Plain 



149 



The only difficulty to agriculture is the drifting sand, 
which in some places has come two and a half miles 
inland. 

The whole Maritime Plain possesses a quiet but rich 
beauty. If the contours are gentle the colours are strong 
and varied. Along almost the whole seaboard runs a strip 
of links and downs, sometimes of pure drifting sand, some- 
times of grass and sand together. Outside this border 
of broken gold there is the blue sea, with its fringe oi 
foam. Landward the soil is a chocolate brown, with 
breaks and gullies, now bare to their dirty white shingle 
and stagnant puddles, and now full of rich green reeds 
and rushes that tell of ample water beneath. Over corn 
and moorland a million flowers are scattered — poppies, 
pimpernels, anemones, the convolvulus and the mallow, 
the narcissus and blue iris — roses of Sharon and lilies 
of the valley. Lizards haunt all the sunny banks. The 
shimmering air is filled with bees and butterflies, and with 
the twittering of small birds, hushed now and then as the 
shadow of a great hawk blots the haze. Nor when dark- 
ness comes is all a blank. The soft night is sprinkled 
thick with glittering fireflies. 

Such a plain, rising through the heat by dim slopes to 
the long persistent range of blue hills beyond, presents 
to-day a prospect of nothing but fruitfulness openness of 
and peace. Yet it has ever been one of the the plaln# 
most famous war-paths of the world. It is not only level, 
it is open. If its coast-line is so destitute of harbours, both 
its ends form wide and easy entrances. The southern 
rolls off upon the great passage from Syria to Egypt ; 
upon those illustrious, as well as horrible, ten sandy 
marches from Gaza — past Rafia, Rhinocoloura, 1 the 



150 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Serbonian Bog,' and the sands where Pompey was stabbed 
to death — to Pelusium and the Nile. Of this historical 
highway between Asia and Africa, along which Thothmes, 
Ramses, Sennacherib, Cambyses, Alexander, Pompey, 
Titus, Saladin, Napoleon and many more great generals 
have led their armies — of this highway the Maritime Plain 
of Palestine is but the continuation. 

Nor is the north end of the plain shut in by Carmel, as 
the view from the sea clearly shows. From the sea the 
The passage sky-line of Carmel, running south-east, does not 
by Carmel. sustain its high level up to the Central Range. 
It is bow-shaped, rising from the sea to its centre, and 
drooping again inland. At the sea end, under the head- 
land, a beach of 200 yards is left, and southwards there 
is always from a mile to two miles between the hill-foot 
and the shore. But this passage, though often used by 
armies — by Richard, for instance, and by Napoleon on his 
retreat — is not the historical passage round Carmel, and 
could not be. It is broken by rocks, and extremely 
difficult to force if defended, so that the Crusaders called 
part of it the House of the Narrow Ways, Les Destroits, 
and Petra Incisa. 1 It is at the other, the inland, end of 
Carmel that the historical passage lies. Here a number 
of low hills, with wide passes, and one great valley — the 
Valley of Dothan — intervene between Carmel and the 
Central Range, and offer several alternative routes from 
the Maritime Plain to Esdraelon. Napoleon, who followed 
one of these routes on his northern march, has stated 
his reasons for doing so in words which emphasise the 
very points we are considering : 1 Carmel se lie aux 

1 Vinsauf, Itiner. Ricardi, iv. 12, 14. Les Destroits survives in Khurbet 
Dustrey. 



The Maritime Plain 



montagnes de Nablouse, mais elle en est separ£e par un 
grand vallon ' — that is, the low hills of softer formation, 
whose subdued elevation seems as a valley between the 
harder heights of Carmel and Samaria. ' On a l'avantage 
de tourner Mont Carmel par la route qui suit la lisiere de 
la plaine d'Esdrelon ' — that is, after it reaches the water- 
shed — ' au lieu que celle qui longe la mer arrive au detroit 
de Haifa ' — that is, the sea-pass which the Crusaders 
called Les Destroits — 'passage difficile a forcer s'il £tait 
defendu.' 1 The route Napoleon chose, to the east of 
Carmel, was of the three which are usually followed the 
most westerly, for his goal was Acre. From the north 
end of Sharon it strikes due north, past Subbarin, and, 
descending to the east of the Muhrakah, reaches Esdraelon 
at Tell Keimun. It is the shortest road from Sharon and 
Egypt to the Phoenician cities, and is to-day followed 
by the telegraph wire. Another route leaves Sharon 
at Khurbet es-Sumrah, strikes north-east up the Wady 
'Arah to the watershed at 'Ain 'Ibrahim, and thence 
descends to Lejjun, from which roads branch to Naza- 
reth, Tiberias, and by Jezreel to Jordan. A third, and 
more frequented route, leaves Sharon still farther south, 
and, travelling almost due east by a long wady, 2 emerges 
upon the Plain of Dothan, and thence descends north-east 
to Jenin, in Esdraelon. This road is about seventeen 
miles long, but for Beisan and the Jordan Valley, it is 
much shorter than the route by Lejjun, and is, no doubt, 
the historical road from Egypt to the east of the Jordan 
and Damascus. It was on this road near Dothan that 
Joseph's brethren, having cast him into a pit, lifted up their 

1 Campagnts d £gyptc tt de Syrie Memoires . . . dictees par lui-meme, 
ii. 55. 2 W. 'Abu-Nar, afterwards W. el Ghamik and W. Wesa. 



152 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



eyes, and behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, 
with their camels, bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, 
going to carry it down to Egypt} 

To this issue of Sharon into Esdraelon, which is hardly 
ever noticed in manuals of sacred geography, too much 
its historical attention cannot be paid. Its presence is felt 
effect. by a n j-he history of the land. No pass had 

more effect upon the direction of campaigns, the sites of 
great battles, or the limitation of Israel's actual possessions. 
We shall more fully see the effects of it when we come 
to study the Plain of Esdraelon. Here it is enough to 
mention such facts as illustrate the real continuity of 
Esdraelon and Sharon. In ancient Egyptian records of 
travel and invasion, 2 names on Esdraelon and the Jordan 
are almost as frequent as those on the Maritime Plain, 
and a journey is recounted which took place in a chariot 
from the Lake of Galilee to Egypt. On this Bethshan 
and Megiddo, which is Lejjun, and Joppa were all 
stations. In the Bible the Philistines and Egyptians are 
frequently represented in Esdraelon. It must surprise the 
reader of the historical books, that Saul and Jonathan 

1 Gen xxxvii. 25. 

The following are the levels relative to these routes : The headland of 
Carmel is some 500 feet above the sea ; thence the ridge rises, in rather over 
eleven miles, to 1810 feet; thence suddenly sinks to 800 or 1000, the height 
of the pass by Subbarin to Tell Keimun, Then come, almost at right angles 
to Carmel, the series of lower ranges— for eight miles the Belad er-Ruhah, 
' a district of bare chalk downs, with an average elevation of 800 feet ' 
{P.E.F. Mem. ii.), fertile, but treeless, except on the western slope; then 
eight or fen miles of higher hills, some of which reach 1600 feet ; then 
Dothan, and then the hills of Samaria. The wateished at 'Ain 'Ibrahim, 
where the Lejjun road crosses, is as high as 1100 feet. Dothan is 700. 
Sharon, at its margin, is 200, and this may be taken as the level also of 
Esdraelon, though Lejjun is over 400 and Jenin over 500. 

a Travels of an Egyptian, I. R.P., ii. 107 ff. ; Annals of Thothmes llf, % 
id. p. iqfi. Cf. W. Max-Midler, A si en und Etnrfa, p. 195 fT. 



l^ke Maritime Plain 



153 



should have come so far north as Gilboa to fight with 
Philistines, whose border was to the south of them, and 
that King Josiah should meet the Egyptians at Megiddo. 
The explanation is afforded by the easy passage of Sharon 
into Esdraelon. The Philistines had come by it, either to 
make the easier entrance into Israel from the north, or to 
keep open the great trade route to Gilead ; the Egyptians 
had come by it, because they were making for Damascus 
and the Euphrates. 

Between these, its open ends, the Maritime Plain was 
traversed by highways, which have followed, through all 
ages, pretty much the same direction. Coming The roads q{ 
up from Egypt, the trunk road crossed the the P lam - 
Wady Ghuzzeh near Tell el 'Ajjul — Calf s Hill — a favour- 
ite Saracen camp, 1 and continued through Gaza and past 
Mejdel to Ashdod, avoiding the coast, for the sand on 
the Philistine coast comes far inland, and is loose. After 
Ashdod it forked. One branch struck through Jamnia 
to Joppa, and thence up the coast by 'Arsuf and Caesarea 
to Haifa, 2 with Roman bridges over the streams. The 
other branch, used in the most ancient times, as well as 
by the Romans and Saracens, and still the main caravan 
road between Egypt and Damascus, strikes from Ashdod 
farther inland, by Ekron to Ramleh, and thence travels 
by Lydda and Antipatris to the passes leading over to 
Esdraelon. This road was joined by roads from the hills 
at Gaza, Ashdod, Ramleh — where the Beth-horon road 
from Jerusalem, and another from Beit-Jibrin, through the 
Shephelah, came in, — at Antipatris, — where the road from 
Jerusalem to Caesarea, by which Paul was brought down, 

1 It was Saladin's twice. 

2 According to Brugsch, the royal Egyptian road. 



1 54 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



crossed it, 1 and near Gilgal and Kakon, where passes 
descended from Shechem and Sebaste. The inland high- 
road was also joined by a cross-road from Joppa near 
Antipatris. All these roads were fairly well supplied with 
water. 

The natural obstacles were few, and easily turned. The 
inland road avoided the streams and marshes which the 
coast road had to traverse, and which do not 

Its defences. . -r, 

seem to have been bridged till the Romans 
came. Some fortresses, as in the south the Philistine 
cities, and in the north 'Arsuf and Caesarea, might form 
bases or flanks for long lines of defence, but they stood 
by themselves, and could be easily turned, as Geoffrey 
turned Caesarea in the First Crusade. Strong lines were 
drawn across the plain at only two places that we know of. 
The deep, muddy bed of the 'Aujeh tempted Alexander 
Janneus to build a wall from Kapharsaba to the sea at 
Joppa, with wooden towers and intermediate redoubts ; 
but 1 Antiochus soon burnt them, and made his army pass 
that way to Arabia.' 2 And, again, Saladin's army, with 
its left on the strong fortress of 'Arsuf, and its right on the 
Samarian hills, strove to keep Richard back, but were 
dispersed after two heavy battles. 3 Napoleon's march is 
the one we know in most detail. He was under the 
necessity of taking two fortresses — Gaza and Joppa — and 
was attacked by a body of Samarians from Nablus as 
he passed Kakon. His experiences may be fairly taken 
as those likely to have happened to most invaders from 
north and south, except that when it was the Jews who 

1 The part of this road through the hill-country was traced by Ely Smith 
in 1840, but the level part from Antipatris to Cx^area has still to be 
recovered. 3 Josephus, xiii. Antt. xv. i. Cf. i. Wars y iv. i. 

* Vinsauf, Ititur. Ricard. iv. 14-24. 



The Maritime Plain 



155 



opposed the invader, they came down Ajalon, and flung 
themselves across his path from Lydda, Gezer, and Joppa. 

We now see why the Maritime Plain was so famous a 
war-path. It is really not the whole of Palestine which 
deserves that name of The Bridge between Asia 

The cam- 

and Africa ; it is this level and open coast- paigns of the 
land along which the embassies and armies plam * 
of the two continents passed to and fro, not troubling 
themselves, unless they were provoked, with the barren 
and awkward highlands to the east. So Thothmes passed 
north to the Hittite frontier and the Euphrates. So 
Rameses came. So, from 740 to 710, Tiglath-Pileser, 
Shalmaneser, and Sargon swept south across Jordan and 
Esdraelon to the cities of the Philistines, entering Samaria, 
whose open gateways they found at Jenin and Kakon, 1 
but leaving Judah alone. So, in 701, Sennacherib marched 
his army to the borders of Egypt, and detached a brigade 
for the operations on Jerusalem, which Isaiah has so 
vividly described. So Necho went up to the border of 
Assyria, and Nebuchadnezzar came down to the border 
of Egypt. So Cambyses passed and left Judaea alone. 
So Alexander the Great passed between his siege of Tyre 
and that of Gaza, and passed back from Egypt to Tyre, 
entering Samaria by the way to punish the inhabitants of 
Shechem. 2 So the Antiochi from Syria and the Ptolemies 
from Egypt surged up and down in alternate tides, carrying 
fire and rapine to each other's borders. From their hills 
the Jews could watch all the spectacle of war between 
them and the sea — the burning villages, the swift, busy 
lines of chariots and cavalry — years before Jerusalem 

1 Jenin on Esdraelon, Kakon on Sharon. 

a The account of his march into Jerusalem is fictitious. 



156 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



herself was threatened. 1 When Judas Maccabeus burnt 
the harbour and ships at Jamnia, 'the light of the fire 
was seen at Jerusalem, two hundred and forty stadia off.' 2 
In Roman times legions marched and countermarched too 
often to mention ; and they made great roads, and bridged 
the streams with bridges, some of which last to this day. 

In the first Moslem assaults the Maritime Plain bore less" 
of the brunt than the eastern parts of the land, but in the 
European invasions of the eleventh to the thirteenth cen- 
turies it was again, as in Greek and Roman times, scoured 
by war. While Geoffrey and the First Crusade passed 
unhindered from Haifa to Ramleh, 3 Richard and the Third 
Crusade had to skirmish every league of the way with 
an enemy that harassed them from the Samarian valleys, 
and to fight one great battle under Arsuf, and another on 
the east of Joppa. 4 In the Philistine Plain innumerable 
conflicts, sieges, and forays took place, for while the Latin 
kingdom of Jerusalem lasted, it met here the assaults of 
the Egyptian Moslems, and when Richard came he had 
here at once to repel the sallies of the Moslem from 
Jerusalem, and intercept the aid coming to them from 
Egypt. In 1265 Bibars came north, and one by one de- 
molished the fortresses so thoroughly, that some of them, 
like Askalon and Csesarea, famous for centuries before, 
have been desolate ever since. But perhaps this garden of 
the Lord was never more violated than when Napoleon, in 
the springof 1799, brought up his army from Egypt, or when, 
in the heat of summer, he retreated, burning the towns 
and harvests of Philistia and massacring his prisoners. 5 

1 Isa. v. 26 ff. 2 2 Mace. xii. 9. The real distance is about 300 stadia. 
3 William of Tyre, vii. 22. 4 Vinsauf, Itin. Ricardi, as above. 

6 Op. cit. ii. 109. Wittmann, Travels^ pp. 128, 136. 



The Maritime Plain 



557 



It was not only war which swept the Maritime Plain. 
The Plague also came up this way from Egypt. Through- 
out antiquity the north-east corner of the ^, _ 

^ J The Plague. 

Delta was regarded with reason as the home 
of the Plague. The natural conditions of disease were 
certainly prevalent. The eastern mouth of the Nile then 
entered the sea at Pelusium, and supplied a great stretch 
of mingled salt and fresh water under a high temperature. 1 
To the west there is the swampy Delta ; and on the 
Asiatic side sand-hills, with only brackish wells. Along 
the coast there appear to have been always a number of 
lagoons, separated from the sea by low bars of sand, and 
used as salt-pans. 2 In Greek and Roman times the largest 
of these was known as the Serbonian Bog or Marsh. 3 It 
had a very evil repute. The dry sand blowing across it 
gave it the appearance of solid ground, which was sufficient 
to bear those who ventured on it, only till they were 
beyond flight or rescue, and it swallowed part of more than 
one unfortunate army. 4 In Justinian's time, the ' Bog ' 
was surrounded by communities of salt-makers and fish- 
curers ; filthy villages of under-fed and imbecile people, 
who always had disease among them. 5 The extremes of 
temperature are excessive. It was a very similar state of 
affairs to that which has been observed in connection with 
the recent outbreak of plague in Astrakhan. 6 Now all 

1 Always accompanied by fevers, as round the Gulf of Mexico. 

2 Cf. Martin Baumgarten's Travels (1 507) in ChurchhilPs Collection, i.410. 

3 2ep/3w^s, Strabo, vii. 59, and Diod. Sic. ; Serbonis Lacus, Pliny, 
Nat. Hist. v. 13. Cf. Ttol. iv. 5, § 12, 20. It lay parallel to the sea, and was 
about 200 stadia by 50, 

* Dio. Sic. i. 5 gives a graphic account of this. Artaxerxes Mnemori lost 
part of his army here in 350. 5 Gibbon. 

6 On the Outbreak of Plague in Astrakhan, 1878-79, by Dr. Giovanni 
Cabriadus, Transactions of the Epidemiological Society, vol. iv., pt. iv. 449. 
Cf. on the same subject the Reports of the German and English Commissions, 
ib. vol. iv. 362, 276. 



1 58 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



armies coming from the north reached these unhealthy 
conditions, exhausted by an arduous march across the 
desert. Coming from the south, armies picked up the 
infection, with the possibility of its breaking out after 
the heat of the desert was passed, in the damper climate 
of Syria. Their camps, their waste and ofTal, with an 
occasional collapse of their animals in a sandstorm, were 
frequent aggravations. 1 

Relevant instances are not few in history. Here Senna- 
cherib's victorious army was infected by pestilence, and 
melted northwards like a cloud ; here in Justinian's time 
the Plague started more than once a course right across the 
world ; here a Crusading expedition showed symptoms of 
the Plague ; here, in 1799, Napoleon's army was infected 
and carried the disease into Syria : while the Turkish force 
that marched south, in 1801, found the Plague about Jaffa 
and in the Delta. 2 

These facts probably provide us with an explanation of 
two records of disease in the Old Testament. The Philis- 
tines, who occupied the open door by which the infection 
entered Syria, 3 were struck at a time they were in camp 

1 Baumgarten in 1507 saw such a collapse : 1 10,000 sheep and asses and 
other creatures lying on the ground rotten and half consumed, the noisome 
smell of which was so insufferable that we were obliged to make all haste ; 1 it 
was a collection of herds which the Sultan of Egypt had caused to be seized 
in Syria in default of the Syrian tribute. Cf. the similar tribute which Isaiah 
describes as going down to Egypt through the same dangers, xxx. 6 : Oracle 
of the beasts of the Negeb. See Wittmann, as below, pp. 122 f. 

2 On Sennacherib, see the author's Isaiah i. On the Plague in Justinian's 
time, Evagrius, xxix. ; Gibbon, xliii. ; on Napoleon, the Memoirs of Cam- 
paigns already cited ; Walsh, Journal of the late Campaign in Egypt, 1803, p. 
136; especially Wittmann, Travels, chs. viii. , x., xi. on Plague and Ophthalmia 
in Maritime Plain. Volney, who says {Travels, i. 253) that the Plague 
always appears on the coast, and is brought from Greece and Syria, is giving 
% mistaken account of the fact that its home is in NE. corner of the Delta. 

* All the Commissioners of Inquiry on the Plague of Astrakhan were not 



The Maritime Plain 



159 



against Israel by two strong symptoms of the Plague — 
tumours in the groin and sudden and numerous deaths. 1 
Among the Israelites, again, the only country which gave 
its name to a disease was Egypt. All the sore sicknesses 
of Egypt of which thou art afraid is a curse in the Book of 
Deuteronomy, which is eloquent of the sense of frequent 
infection from that notorious quarter. One of these sick- 
nesses is specified as the Boil or Tumour of Egypt} That 
it occurs in the singular number may, of course, be due to 
its being a continuous eruption on the body, but it seems 
rather to mean a solitary tumour, and it is interesting that 
in recent instances of the pestilence, the tumours have 
generally been one on each person, while in India a local 
name for the Plague is The Boil. 8 

However this may be, it seems certain that Israel was 

equally convinced as to whether the infection can be carried by clothes, but 
the Germans had no doubt that this outbreak was caused by the carriage to 
the district of spoil of war. — Trans, of Epidem. Soc. iv. 376 ff., Report oj 
German Commission ; cf. The Account of the Endemic Plague in India, ib. p. 
391, where it is said that it is traders who are mostly attacked. 

1 The name of the thing with which they were smitten, D vDy 'dpholim, 
means swellings or boils, 1 Sam. v. 6, 9, 12 ; and the offerings made to avert 
the calamity were not only golden boils but golden mice, the symbol of the 
Plague, ib. vi. 5. Cf. Herodotus' account of the disaster to Sennacherib, 
in which mice play a part, ii. I. The disease with which Napoleon's army 
was attacked in Philistia was precisely the same — a very fatal fievre h bubons. 

2 All the sore sicknesses of Egypt, Deut. vii. 15, xxviii. 60; pestilence 
in the way, or after the manner, of Egypt, Amos iv. io. The Boil 
( = | s nK> Shehin) is applied both to a single tumour like a carbuncle, as in 
2 Kings xx. 7, and to an extensive eruption and swelling of the skin, as in 
Job ii. 7, where it is supposed to be elephantiasis. In Deut. xxviii. 35 it 
means some extensive disease of the skin. 

8 Trans, of the Epidem. Soc, iv., pt. i. 129 ff. On Plague and Typhus 
Fever in India, Surgeon-General Murray. On solitary tumours, see ib. 
Report of German Commission on the Astrakhan Plague, p. 376, and the cases 
specified by Dr. Cabriadus in the same Transactions, iv., pt. iv. p. 449, and 
Surgeon-Major Colville's Notes on Plague in Province of Baghdad, ib. iv., 
pt. i. p. 9, where in many the sign of Plague was an enlargement of glans in 
groin or armpit. See Additional Note, p. 670. 



160 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



sometimes attacked by epidemics, which, starting from the 
north-east corner of Egypt, travelled by the short desert 
route to Syria, and passed up the avenues of trade from 
the Maritime Plain. The Philistines, as traders, would 
stand in special danger of infection. 

These, then, were the contributions of the Maritime Plain 
to the history of Israel. It was a channel always busy 
with Commerce, and often scoured by War and the Plague. 

The positions of the cities of the Maritime Plain are of 
extreme interest. We have surveyed those on the coast. 

Those inland arrange themselves into two 

Cities of the 

Maritime groups. Coming from the north, we find no 
inland town of any consequence till the 'Aujeh 
is passed, and then all at once the first group appear at 
the mouth of the Vale of Ajalon. The second group are 
separated from these by the low hills on the Nahr Rubin, 
and consist of the towns of Philistia. 

It is, of course, the incoming Vale of Ajalon that explains 
the first group — Ramleh, and Lydda and her sisters, with, 
Valley of the P erna P s > Antipatris. Lydda, or Lod, with Ono, 
Smiths. a little farther out on the plain, and Hadid, 
on the edge of the hills behind, formed the most westerly 
of the Jewish settlements after the Exile. The returned 
Jews naturally pushed down the only broad valley from 
Jerusalem till they touched the edge of the great thorough- 
fare which sweeps past it. The site of their settlements 
here is described as the Ge-haharashim — the Valley of the 
Smiths or Craftsmen. It is surely a recollection of the 
days when there was no harash in Israel, but the Hebrews 
came down to the Philistine border to get their plough- 
shares and their mattocks sharpened. 1 The frontier posi- 

1 i Sam. xiii. 19. Lod, Ono, and Hadid are no' given in Joshua (only in 



The Maritime Plain 



161 



tion of Lydda — according to Josephus, 5 a village not 
less than a city' — made it the frequent subject of battle 
and treaty between the Jews and their succes- 

Lydda. 

sive enemies. 1 Like all the other inland towns 
of Sharon, it appears never to have been fortified. It was, 
as we have seen, one of the centres of Jewish feeling 
throughout Roman times, and after the destruction of 
Jerusalem it formed a refuge of the religious leaders of 
Judaism. After one or other of those revolts of despair, 
into which the Jews burst during the second and third 
centuries, Lydda was emptied of everything Jewish, and 
made pagan, under the name of Diospolis. 2 Judaism 
disappeared, but Christianity survived, and finally got the 
upper hand. There was a Bishop of Diospolis in the 
fourth century, and a Synod of Diospolis, at which Pela- 
gius was tried, early in the fifth. 3 The chief Christian 

I Chron. viii. 12) ; but Ezra ii. 33 implies that they were Jewish towns before 
the exile, cf. Neh. vii. 37. Neh. xi. 35 relates their rebuilding, and gives 
us the name of the district, Q^^nn \sj — LXX., 777' 'Apaaeifi. Conder suggests 

that Harashim 'survives in the present Hirshah, 5 P.E.F.Q., 1878, 18. 

1 Especially between the Syrians and the Jews, and the Romans and the 
Jews. It was confirmed by Ptolemy to Jonathan Maccabeus, I Mace. xi. 34, 
and by Csesar, with the right to make it thoroughly Jewish, xiv. Antt. x. 6. 
It was the capital of a toparchy, iii. Wars, iii. 5. For its adherence to the 
national side, witness its occupation by Cestius Gallus (see p. 138), as also by 
Vespasian, iv. Wars, vi. That the latter met with no opposition was due to 
the town's want of fortification. 

2 This is usually supposed to have happened as early as Hadrian's time, 
when Jerusalem was desecrated. But Schlatter, Zur Topographie u. Geschichte 
Palastinas, No. 2, sets the change of name under Septimius Severus about 
the year 202 a.d.. when Beit-Jibrin also was put under a Greek name. The 
earliest coins that have been found of Diospolis bear the legend 1 L. Septimia 
Severa Diospolis.' Eusebius and Jerome still know it under that name, 
though, strange to say, neither Diospolis nor Lydda is the subject of a 
special article in the Onomasticon, but the name Diospolis occurs only in 
fixing the position of towns like Arimathea, Addara, Adithaim, etc 

3 415. He got off, to the wrath of Jerome : Dialogi cuh>. Pel. 

L 



1 62 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



interest of Lydda, however, centres round her St. George, 
There is no hero whom we shall more frequently meet 
in Palestine, and especially east of Jordan. 

St. George. 

Indeed, among all the saints, there has been 
none with a history like this one, who, from obscure origins 
became not only the virtual patron of Syrian Christendom, 
and an object of Mohammedan reverence, btt* patron as 
well of the most western of all Christian peoples. St. 
George of Lydda is St. George of England ; he is also a 
venerated personage in Moslem legend. For this triple fame 
he has to thank his martyrdom on the eve of the triumph 
of Christianity (to the early Church George is Megalo- 
martyr and Tropaiophoros) ; the neighbourhood of his 
shrine to the scene of a great Greek legend ; the removal 
of his relics to Zorava, in Hauran, where his name 
spread with great rapidity ; and the effect of all this, his 
Syrian reputation, first upon the Moslems before they 
became impervious to Christian influences, and then on 
the Crusaders at a crisis in their first invasion. The 
original George was a soldier of good birth, and served 
as a military tribune under Diocletian. In 303 he was 
martyred. According to some, Lydda was the scene of 
his martyrdom ; others place there the property of his 
family, but say that he suffered in Nicomedia. 1 In either 
case Lydda received his relics ; through the following 
centuries pilgrims visited his tomb in the town, 2 and there 

1 Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. viii. 5, tells of 1 a certain man of no mean origin, 
but highly esteemed for his temporal dignities,' who, in Nicomedia, tore down 
Diocletian's edicts against Christianity, and then heroically met death. 

3 Antonini Placentini Itinerarium (cir. 570), c. 25 : ' Diospolis ... in 
qua requiescit Georgius martyr. ' The same sentence confounds Diospolis with 
Ashdod and Caesarea. Arculf, before 683, Willibald, 728, and Bernard, 865, 
also mention the tomb. The church does not appear to have been dedicated 
to St. George ; travellers quote only the monastery and the tomb. 



The Maritime Plain 



163 



was a monastery dedicated to him. A church had stood 
in Lydda from the earliest times, but it was destroyed 
on the approach of the First Crusade. A new cathedral 
was built by the Crusaders over the tomb, and partly 
because of this, but also in gratitude for the supernatural 
intervention of the saint in their favour at Antioch, they 
dedicated it to him. It was a great pile of building, 
capable of being used as a fortress. So, on the approach 
of Richard, Saladin destroyed it. Richard, who did more 
than any man to identify St. George with England, 1 is said 
to have rebuilt the church ; but there is no record of the 
fact, and it is much more likely that the great bays which 
the traveller of to-day admires are the ruins that Saladin 
made. 2 By Crusading times the name of the saint had 
displaced both Diospolis and Lydda, and the town might 
have been called St. George till now but for the break in 
Christian pilgrimage from the sixteenth to the eighteenth 
centuries. 3 The Arabs have perpetuated the Hebrew name 
Lod in their Ludd. 

The connection of St. George with a dragon can be 
traced to the end of the sixth century. It was probably 
due to two sources — to the coincidence of the 

. 'ii • St. George 

rise of the martyr s fame with the triumph of and the 
Christianity over paganism, and, as M. Clermont Dragon * 
Ganneau has forcibly argued, to the conveyance to St. 
George of the legend of Perseus and Andromeda. It was 

1 It was under Edward in. that St. George became patron of England. 

2 Vinsauf is silent. Robinson's reasons against Richard's building seem 
conclusive, Bib. Res. iii. 54 f. ; De Vogue, Les Agliscs de la Terre Sainte, 
363 ff. with plans. Cf. Phocas, 39; Bohaeddin, ch. 121. 

3 So in Crusading documents (Z.D.P. V. x. 215), but even as late as in 1506, 
in Die Jerusalemfahrt des Caspar von Mulinen : ' Und reit der Herre fon 
Ramen und der Herre fon Sant Joergen unc/^ gon Jaffen' (Z.D.P. V. 
xi. 195)- 



[64 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



in the neighbourhood of Lydda — at Arsuf or Joppa — that 
Perseus slew the sea-monster which threatened the virgin ; 
and we know how often Christian saints have been served 
heir to the fame of heathen worthies who have preceded 
them in the reverence of their respective provinces. But 
the legend has an even more interesting connection. The 
Mohammedans, who usually identify St. George with the 
prophet Elijah — El Khudr, the forerunner of Messiah— at 
Lydda confound his legend with another about Christ 
Himself. Their name for Antichrist is Dajjal, and they 
have a tradition that Jesus will slay Antichrist by the gate 
of Lydda. This notion sprang from an ancient bas-relief 
of St. George and the Dragon on the Lydda church. But 
Dajjal may be derived, by a very common confusion 
between n and /, from Dagon, whose name two neighbouring 
tillages — Dajun and Bet Dajon — bear to this day, while 
one of the gates of Lydda used to be called the Gate of 
Dagon. 1 If the derivation be correct, then, it is indeed a 
curious process by which the monster, symbolic of heathen- 
ism conquered by Christianity, has been evolved out of the 
first great rival of the God of Israel. And could there 
be a fitter scene for such a legend than the town where 
Hebrew touched Philistine, Jew struggled with Greek, and 
Christendom contested with Islam ? To-day the popula- 
tion is mostly Mohammedan, and the greater part of the 
cathedral a mosque ; but there is still a Christian con- 
gregation in Lydda, who worship in the nave and an aisle ; 
and once a year, on the anniversary of their great saint, 
whom even the Moslems reverence, they are permitted to 
celebrate Mass at the high altar over his tomb. 2 

1 Clermont Ganneau, P.E.F. Mem. ii. 

1 For such details of the above as are in M . Clermont Ganneau's papers 
I am indebted to Guerin's Judte, i. 



The Maritime Plain 165 



About 700 Lydda suffered one of her many overthrows. 
The Arab general 1 who was the cause saw the necessity 
of building another town in the neighbourhood 

Rami eh. 

to command the junction of the roads from the 
coast to the interior with the great caravan route from 
Egypt to Damascus. He chose a site nearly three miles 
from Lydda, and called the town Ramleh, 'the sandy,' 
and, indeed, there is no other feature to characterise it. 
Like the cathedrals of the plains of Europe, the mosque of 
Ramleh has a lofty tower, from which all the convergent 
roads may be surveyed for miles. Ramleh was once 
fortified. It suffered the varying fortunes of the wars of 
the Crusades, and since it became Mohammedan, in 1266, 
its Christian convent has continued to provide shelter to 
pilgrims on the road to Jerusalem. 2 

From Ramleh it is a long way back in time to Anti- 
patris. Antipatris was one of the creations of Herod, and 
appears to have been built not as a fortress, 

, . , T Antipatris. 

but as a pleasant residence. Its site was 
probably not where Robinson placed it, at the present 
Kefr Saba, but southward, near the present El-Mir. Here 
is all the wealth of water which Josephus describes, as well 
as sufficient ruins to demonstrate that the site was once a 
place of importance. 8 

1 Suleiman, son of the Khalif 'Abd-el-Melek, according to Abulfeda. 

2 Pilgrims used to wait here till the frequently delayed permission was 
granted them to go on to Jerusalem. Felix Fabri, i., etc, etc. 

8 See Robinson, Bib. Res. ii. 45-47. The credit of the discovery of the 
other site is due to the P.E.F. Survey under Conder (see P.E.F. Mem. 
ii. 258 ff.). Though in one passage Josephus says Antipatris was on the site 
of Kefr Saba (xvi. Antt. v. 2), in another he describes it more generally as in 
the Plain of Kefr Saba (ii. Wart. xxi. 9). 



CHAPTER IX 
THE PHILISTINES AND THEIR CITIES 



For this Chapter consult Maps I. and IV. 



THE PHILISTINES AND THEIR CITIES 



^HE singularity and importance of the Palestine towns 
J- demand their separation from the rest of the Mari- 
time Plain, and their treatment in a chapter by them- 
selves. 

The chief cities of the Philistine League were five- 
Gaza, 'Askalon, 'Ashdod, 'E^ron, and Gath; but Jamneh,or 
Jamniel, is generally associated with them. Only one — 
'Askalon — is directly on the sea ; the others dominate the 
trunk-road which, as we have seen, through Philistia keeps 
inland. None of them lie north of the low hills by the 
Nahr Rubin. These two facts, with the well-known dis- 
tinction of the Philistines from the Canaanites or Phoeni- 
cians, point to an immigration from the south and an 
interest in the land trade. 

This is confirmed by all that we know of the history of 
this strange people. In the LXX. the name Philistines 
is generally translated by Allophuloi (Vulg. Thename 
aliegencz) ' aliens ' ; and it has suggested a Philistines - 
derivation from falash.z. Semitic root, 'to migrate.' 1 In 
the Old Testament there is a very distinct memory of 

1 The name was not given by the Semites, Hebrews, or Canaanites. That 
it was the Philistines' name for themselves appears from its use by all other 
peoples who came into connection with them. In the Egyptian inscriptions 
it is Purasati ; in the Assyrian inscriptions it is Pulistav and Pilista ; Schrader, 
K.A.T., 102, 103, where there is an interesting argument to show that by 

169 



1 70 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



such a migration : O children of Israel, saith Jehovah, have 
I not brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the 
Philistines from Kaphtor, and the Syrians from Kir t The 
Kaphtorim, which came forth from Kaphtor, destroyed the 
Avim, which dwelt in open villages as far as Gaza, and 
dwelt in their stead) Where the Philistines came from, 
and what they originally were, is not clear, 

Their origin. 

That they moved up the coast from Egypt is 
certain ; 2 that they came from Kaphtor is also certain. 
But it by no means follows, as some argue, that Kaphtor 
and Egypt are the same region. 8 On the contrary, Kaphtor 
seems to be outside Egypt ; 4 and as the Philistines are 

Pilista the Assyrians meant Judah as well as the Philistine cities — a remarkable 
precedent for what happened in Greek times, when the name of Philistia was 
extended across the whole country behind. Pelesheth has a Semitic appear- 
ance which Pelishtim, showing the root to be quadriliteral, has not. The 
name is supposed to survive in the names of several localities in the Shephelah 
hills — at Keratiyeh el Fentsh by Beit-Jibrin, Arak el Fentsh, Bestan el 
Fentsh — also at Latrun, Soba, Amwas, and Khurbet Ikbala. All these places 
are on the borderland of ancient Philistia, and the name does not occur else- 
where. See Conder in P.E.F. Mem. vol. iii. 294. 

1 Amos ix. 7 ; Deut. ii. 23. 

2 From the unlikelihood of their landing on the coast, from the traces in 
the Old Testament of their settlement to the south of Gaza before they occu- 
pied it (the stories of the patriarchs and Book of Joshua), and from Gen. x. 14, 
whether you read the clause in brackets where it stands, or at the end of the 
verse. The Pathrusim and Casluhim are practically Egypt ; out of whom 
should be whence. But some take this clause as a gloss. 

3 Egyptologists like Ebers {Aigyptcn u. die Biicher Mods) and Sayce 
[Races of the O.T., 53-54, 127, a popular statement) assert that Kaphtor is 
Kaft-ur, 'the greater Phoenicia,' applied to the Delta by the Egyptians. 
But see p. 197. Before this Reland (p. 74) had placed Kaphtor 'in ora 
Maritima /Egypti contra Pelusium,' and 1 susrected' a connection between the 
names Pelusium and Pelesheth. Cf. Plutarch's De Isi et Osiri, xvii., which 
speaks of a youth, Pelusius or Palaestinus, after whom Iris names Pelusium. 

4 I cannot think that if Kaphtor had been part of the Delta, it would have 
been given as distinct from Egypt, in Amos ix. 8. On the other hand, the 
reason given by Dillmann (on Gen. x. 14), that ij< is applied to Kaphtor is 
Jer. xlviL 4, is not conclusive, for » s a ^ so applicable to the Deltn coast. 



The Philistine* and their Cities 1 7 1 



also called Kerethim, 1 and the connection between Egypt 
and Crete was always a close one, and certain traditions 
trace the inhabitants of Palestine to Crete, it 

/• .1 -r T7- 1 -ii Kaphtor. 

appears more safe to identify Kaphtor with that 
island. 2 But to have traced the Philistines to Crete is not to 
have cleared up their origin, for early Crete was full of tribes 
from both east and west. 8 The attempt has been made 
to derive the name Philistine from the Pelasgians, or from 
a Pelasgic clan called Peneste, and to prove in detail that 
Philistine names and institutions are Aryan. 4 But Crete 
shows signs of having been once partly colonised by 
Semites, and it is possible that some of these, after a long 
contact with Greek tribes, returned eastward. 6 In that 
case their natural goal, as with the eastward-faring Greeks, 
would be, not the harbourless coast of South Syria, but the 
mouths of the Nile. Now, the little that we know of the 
Philistines, v/hile not, indeed, proving such a theory, does 

1 Zeph. ii. 5 ; Ezek. xxiv. Cf. l Sam. xx. 14. 

3 That Kaphtor is not mentioned in Gen. x. 4, with other Mediterranean 
islands, as a son of Javan, is due to the fact that Crete was regarded as con- 
nected, not with the north, but with the south coast of the Mediterranean. 
It is scarcely necessary now to say that the arrangement in Gen. x. is not 
ethnological, but mainly geographical. The traditions referred to in the text 
are the connection which the inhabitants of Gaza alleged between their god 
Mama and the Cretan Jove, and the statement in Tacitus, Hist. v. 2 : 
'Judaeos Creta insula profugos, novissima Libyae insedisse, memorant, qua 
tempestate Saturnus vi Jovis expulsus cesserit regnis.' He seeks to explain 
this tradition by the analogy between Idsei, from Mount Ida, and Judaei. It 
must be kept in mind that these late traditions may have arisen from a con- 
nection between Crete and the Philistine coast in Hellenic times — i.e. after 
Alexander the Great. Gaza especially had then great trade with the west. 

3 Cf. Odyssey, xix. i7off. Achaeans, Kydonians, Dorians, Pelasgians, and 
aboriginal Cretans — irednpyToi. 

* Hitzig, Urgeschichte u. Mythologie der Philistder, where the most extra- 
ordinary Sanscrit analogies are suggested. The argument has been still more 
overdone by the article in Schenkel's Bibel- Lexicon. 

6 Knobel's opinion {Vblkertafel Gen. x.) was that the Philistines were 
Egyptians who had sojourned in Crete. 



1 7 2 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



not contradict it. Take them as a whole, and the Philis- 
tines appear a Semitic people, with some non-Semitic 
habits, institutions, and words. Putting aside 

Racial char- 
acter of the names of their towns, which were pro- 

Philistines. , . . . . 

bably due to their Canaanite predecessors, we 
find a number of their personal names also to be Semitic. 2 
Their religion seems to have consisted of the thorough 
Semitic fashion of reverencing a pair of deities, masculine 
and feminine. Dagon had a fish-goddess by his side, 
and the names Dagon and Beelzebub are purely Semitic. 
Nor is this evidence counterbalanced by the fact that the 
Philistines did not practise circumcision, for they may have 
abandoned the custom during their western sojourn, as 
the later Phoenicians did in contact with the Greeks. 
But even when we have admitted the Semitic features, 
it is still possible to argue that the Philistines received 
these from the civilisation which they succeeded and 
absorbed. This is certain in the case of their towns, and 
of the names of the giants among them, who belonged to 
the remains of the Canaanite population. 8 Indeed, with 
the exception, perhaps, of Abimelech, there is no Philistine 
name of a Semitic cast of which this may not be true. It 
is quite possible that neither Delilah nor Obed-edom the 
Gittite was a pure Philistine. 4 As for language, there is 
little argument either way ; but if, as there is some reason 

1 This disposes of part of Stade's argument, Gesch. des V. Israel, i. 142. : 

3 Abimelech, Delilah, Obed-edom. But see below. Perhaps also Ishbi, 
Saph, Goliath, Raphah. 

Achish, 5^3fc<, son of Maoch, king of Gath, 1 Sam. xxvii. 2. 

Achish, son of Maachah, king of Gath, roy?D 1 Kings ii. 39. W. Max 
Miiller {Asien u. £ur., 389) gives a name Bi-d-ira. 
J Josh. xi. 21, 22. Cf. xv. 13, 14. 

4 Gath was so near the Israel border, and so often under Israel, that Obed 
edoin may have been a Hebrew, though this is not likely from his name. 



The Philistines and their Cities 173 



to suppose, incoming Israel acquired theirs from the 
Canaanites, it is not impossible for the Philistines to have 
done the same. 1 As for religion, if in antiquity the religion 
of a province was usually adopted by its invaders, and if 
even Israel fell so frequently under the power of Canaanite 
worship, as only with difficulty to escape from permanently 
succumbing to it, how much more likely were the Philis- 
tines, who had not the spirit of Israel, to yield to the 
manner of the gods of the land? The case, therefore, is very 
complex. As to the non-Semitic elements in Philistinism, 
some maintain that they are Greek, or at least Aryan. 8 
Now, it would indeed be interesting if we were sure that 
in the early Philistines Israel already encountered that 
Hellenism with which she waged war on the same fields 
in the days of the Maccabees. But we cannot affirm more 
than that this was possible ; and the above ambiguous 
results are all that are afforded by the present state of our 
knowledge of this perplexing people. 

The Philistines appear to have come into the Maritime 
Plain of Syria either shortly before or shortly after Israel 
left Egypt. In the Tell-el-Amarna Letters from 
South Palestine, in the beginning of the four- pearance in 
teenth century B.C., they are not mentioned ; 
and in the latter half of that century the monuments of 
Rameses II. represent the citizens of Askalon with faces 
that are not Philistine faces. 4 Now, this agrees with the 

1 Nothing can be argued about the speech of the early Philistines, from 
the fact that in Aramaic times the Philistines, as witnessed by two coins of 
Ashdod, spoke a dialect of Hebrew. 

2 2 Kings xvii. 26. 

3 The article in Riehm's Handworterbuch says of the Philistines : ' Sie 
sind mit Griechischen, bestimmter Karischen, Elementen, stark versetzten 
Semiten, aus Kreta. In Isa. ix. 11, for Philistines the LXX. have "EXXtji** j. 

4 They are probably Hittite. — Brugsch. 



r 74 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



traditions in Genesis, one of which places the Philistine 
centre still to the south of Gaza, 1 while another states that 
the Canaanites once held all the coast from Gaza north- 
wards ; 2 as well as that of Deuteronomy, 3 that the Caph- 
torim had to expel the Avim, who dwelt in open villages, as 
far as Gaza. This northern advance of the Philistines 
may have been going on at the very time that the Israel- 
ites were invading the Canaanites from the east. But if 
so, it cannot have been either powerful or ambitious, for of 
the various accounts in the books of Joshua and Judges of 
the first Hebrew conquests, none bring the Hebrews even 
into conflict with the Philistines. 4 Still later, by Deborah's 
time, the tribe of Dan had touched the sea, and when 
afterwards they were driven back to the hills, the pressure 
came not from Philistines, but from Amorites. 6 Very soon 

1 In Gerar — Gen. xx. and xxvi. Gerar can hardly be the Umm-el-Jerar 
for which it is generally taken ; for this is too far north for the verse in 
which it occurs to agree with the clause immediately before it, Gen. xx. I ; 
and the Onomasticon puts it twenty-five Roman miles south of Beit-Jibrin. 

2 Gen. x. 19. 3 ii. 3. 

4 Josh. xi. and xiii. ; Judges i., especially verse 18, where, with the LXX. 
and most authorities, we should insert the word ' not. ' Josh. xiii. 2 says 
expressly, This is the land that yet remaineth — all the GeHloth, or circuits, oj 
the Philistines. 

5 Judges v. 17 : Dan abidetk in ships. Judges i. 34 : The Amorites forced 
the children of Dan into the mountains, for they would not suffer them to come 
down into the valley, i.e. of Ajalon, where according to the next verse, the 
Amorites settled till they were subdued by Ephraim. [I cannot agree with 
Budde {Biicher Richter u. Samuel, p. 17) that Mount Heres = Beth-shemesh, 
the present 'Ain Shems, in the Vale of Sorek (read sudlich for nordlich in 
Budde). Mount Heres must be in the Vale of Ajalon, where Ephraim would 
naturally come, as he would not into Sorek.] The two statements can hardly 
be reconciled, for if the Amorites succeeded, according to Judges i. 34, in 
preventing Dan from even coming down into the valley, how could it be said 
that (Judges v. 17) Dan ever got to the sea, and remainea in ships? This is 
just one of the difficulties that meet us almost everywhere in the accounts of 
Israel's occupation of the land. I have ventured (in opposition to Stade, 
Budde, and Kittel) to adopt the statement that Dan did reach the sea, foi 
Judges v. 17 belongs to one of the best-assured parts of the Song of Deborah, 



The Philistines and their Cities 175 



afterwards, however, the Philistines, adding to their effective 
force the tall Canaanites 1 whom they had subdued, and 
strengthened, perhaps, by the addition of other clans from 
their earlier seats — for, like Israel, they had several tribes 
among them 2 — moved north and east with irresistible 
power. Overflowing from what was especially known as 
their districts, the Geliloth Pelesheth, 3 they seized all the 
coast to beyond Carmel, and spread inland over Their contact 
Esdraelon. It was during this time of expan- Wlth Israel - 
sion that they also invaded the highlands to the east of 
them, and began that conflict with Israel which alone has 
given them fame and a history. 

We cannot have followed this history without being 
struck by the strange parallel which it affords to the 
history of Israel — the strange parallel and Parallel 
the stranger difference. Both Philistines and p^S^ 
Hebrews were immigrants into the land for and Israelites - 
whose possession they fought through centuries. Both 
came up to it from Egypt. Both absorbed the populations 
they found upon it. Both succeeded to the Canaanite 
civilisation, and came under the fascination of the Canaan- 
ite religion. Each people had a distinctive character of its 
own, and both were at different periods so victorious that 
either, humanly speaking, might have swallowed up the 
other. Indeed, so fully was the Philistine identified with 
the land that his name has for ever become its name — a 

and is not to be put aside simply because it conflicts with another state- 
ment. 

1 Sons of Anak. 

2 Kaphtorim, Philistines, Kerethim, etc. 

8 One of the few instances of the use of Gelil, or Gelilah, apart from Galilee 
(ch. xx.). It was, of course, a name applied by the foreign Hebrews, and 
one might be tempted to see a trace of it in the Galilea of the Crusaders, east 
of Caesarea, and the modern Jelll, north-east of Jaffa. See p. 413. 







1 76 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 

distinction which Israel never reached. Yet Israel survived 
and the Philistine disappeared. Israel attained to a destiny, 
equalled in the history of mankind only by Greece and 
Rome, whereas all the fame of the Philistine lies in having 
served as a foil to the genius of the Hebrews, and to-day 
his name against theirs is the symbol of impenetrableness 
and obscurantism. 

What caused this difference between peoples whose 
earlier fortunes were so similar ? First, we may answer, 
their geographical position, and Second, the spirit which 
was in one of them. The same Hand 1 which brought in 
Israel from the east brought up the Philistine from the 
south. It planted Israel on a rocky range of mountain, 
aloof from the paths of the great empires, and outside their 
envy. It planted the Philistines on an open doorway and 
a great thoroughfare, amidst the traffic and the war of two 
continents. They were bent now towards Egypt, now 
towards Assyria, at a time when youthful Israel was 
growing straight and free as one of her own forest trees, 
They were harassed by intrigue and battle, when her 
choicest spirits had freedom for the observation of the 
workings of an omnipotent and righteous Providence ; 
and when, at last, they were overwhelmed by the streams 
of Greek culture which flowed along their coast in the 
wake of Alexander the Great, she upon her bare heights 
still stubbornly kept the law of her Lord. Yet, to ascribe 
this difference of destiny to difference of geographical 
position were to dignify the mere opportunity with the 
virtue of the original cause ; for it was not Israel's geo- 
graphical position which prevented her from yielding to 
the Canaanite religion, or moved her, being still young 

1 See Amos viii. q. 



The Philistines and their Cities 177 



and rude, to banish from her midst the soothsayers and 
necromancers, to whom the Philistines were wholly given 
over. 1 But from the first Israel had within her a spirit, and 
before her an ideal, of which the Philistines knew nothing, 
and always her prophets identified the purpose — which 
they plainly recognised — of her establishment on so iso- 
lated and secure a position with the highest ends of 
righteousness, wisdom, and service to all mankind. 

It is outside the purpose of this work to follow in detail 
the history of the relations of the two peoples, but it may 
be useful to define the main periods into which that history 
falls, with their relevant portions of geography. 

There was first a period of military encounters, and 
alternate subjugation of the one people by the other. This 
passed through its heroic stage in the times R e i at j onsof 
of Samson, Saul, and David, entered a more p^fg t f^ d 
peaceful epoch under Solomon, and for the L ToB - c - 8oa 
next three centuries of the Hebrew monarchy was distin- 
guished by occasional raids from both sides into the heart 
of the enemy's country. The chief theatre of the events of 
this period are the Shephelah hills and the valleys leading 
up through them upon Judah and Benjamin. 2 At one 
time the Philistines are at Michmash, on the very citadel 
of Israel's hill-country, and at another near Jezreel, by its 
northern entrances. 3 In both of these cases their purpose 
may have been to extend their supremacy over the trade 
routes which came up from Egypt and crossed the Jordan ; 
but it seems as probable that, by occupying Michmash 
and the Plain of Esdraelon, they sought to separate the 

1 Cf. 1 Sam. xxviii. 3 with Isa. ii. 6. 

3 See next chapter. 

1 1 Sam. xiii., xxix., and xxxi. 

M 



178 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



tribes of Israel from one another. 1 Occasionally Philis- 
tines penetrated to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, 2 or 
the Israelite raids swept up to the gates of Gaza ; 3 but 
neither people ever mastered the other's chief towns. 

The second period is that of the centuries from the eighth 
to the fourth before Christ, when the contests of the two 
n BC nations are stilled before the advance upon 
800-400. Syria of the great world-powers — Egypt, As- 
syria, Babylon and Persia. Now, instead of a picture of 
forays and routs up and down the intervening passes, 
Philistine and Hebrew face to face in fight, we have the 
gaze of the Hebrew prophets looking down on Philistia 
from afar, and marking her cities for destruction by the 
foreign invader. It is, indeed, one of the many signs of 
the sobriety of the prophets, and of their fidelity to histori- 
cal fact, that they do not seek to revive within Israel at 
this time any of her earlier ambitions for the victory of her 
own arms over her ancient foe. The threats of prophecy 
against Philistia are, with one exception, threats of destruc- 
tion from Egypt and Mesopotamia. Isaiah, Jeremiah, 
Zephaniah, Zechariah, speak of the Philistine cities, not 
hotly, as of enemies shortly to be met in battle, but piti- 
fully, as victims of the Divine judgment, which lowers over 
Philistia and Israel alike. 4 

1 This seems the more likely idea in the case of Michmash, for although 
there was a trade route from the east of the Jordan by Jericho and Michmash 
to the coast, which was much used by the Crusaders (see p. 250), a garrison 
at Michmash could not have kept it open while Saul had his camp at Gilgal, 
and commanded the Jordan. 

3 2 Sam. v. 22 ff. 8 2 Kings xviii. 8. 

4 Isa. xiv. 29-32; Jer. xlvii. ; Zeph. ii. ; Zech. ix. The one exception is 
Isa. xi. 14, where it is said Judah and Ephraim shall swoop upon the shouldei 
of the Philistine towards the sea This is a passage which some maintain is 
not Isaiah's. But, as far as our present subject is concerned, there was sum- 



The Philistines and their Cities 1 79 



A change of attitude and temper came with the third 
period, from the third century before Christ to the close of 
the Jewish revolts against Rome, in the third m B c 3QO _ 
century after Christ. With Alexander's inva- A ° D - 3 °°- 
sion the Philistine coast and cities were opened to Greek 
influence. There was traffic with Greece through the 
harbours, such as they were ; there were settlements of 
Greek men in all the cities, Greek institutions arose, the 
old deities were identified with Greek gods, and, though the 
ancient Philistine stubbornness persisted it was exercised 
in the defence of civic independence, according to Greek 
ideas, and of Greek manners and morals. But it was just 
against this Hellenism, whether of Syria or of the half-free 
Philistine cities, that the sacred wars of the Maccabees 
broke out. The aloofness of the prophetic period was 
over, and Israel returned to close quarters with her ancient 
foes. Their battles raged on the same fields; their routs 
and pursuits up and down the same passes. Did Samson 
arise in the Vale of Sorek, and David slay Goliath in the 
Vale of Elah, both of them leading down into Philistia ? — 
then the birthplace of the Maccabees was in the parallel 
Valley of Ajalon, at Modin, and their exploits within sight 
of the haunts of their predecessors a thousand years before. 
So, through the literature of this time, and of the times 
leading up to it, we miss the wide prophetic view, and in 
psalms that exult in the subjugation of the Philistines to 
Israel, and triumph over Philistia} we seem to breathe 

cient historical occasion for it in Isaiahs days, in the expeditions of Uzziab 
and Hezekiah up to the gates of Gaza. 

1 Psalm lx. (cviii.), lxxxiii., etc. Of course, it is always possible histoncally 
that such Psalms are of earlier date, for Hezekiah carried fire and sword into 
Philistia while Isaiah was alive — a strong reminder to us of how impossible it 
is to be dogmatic on the date of any Psalm, simply because it reflects the main 
feeling of the literature of the time to wnich we assign it. 



4 

1 80 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



again the ruder and more military spirit of the times of 
Samson and of Saul. This hostility and active warfare 
persisted till the last Jewish revolts under the Roman 
emperors. Then the Jews gave way, withdrawing into 
Galilee, and Christianity succeeded to the heritage of the 
war against Hellenism. 

The slow conquest of heathenism by the Church forms 
the fourth period of the history of Philistia, from the first 
iv. in Chris- to the beginning of the fifth century after 
nan Times. Christ. It is typical of the whole early progress 
of Christianity, and as full of pathos and romance as this 
was in any other part of the world. In Philistia Chris- 
tianity rose against a Hellenism proud of its recent vic- 
tories over the Jews. There were flourishing schools and 
notable philosophers in every city. The gods, identified 
with the deities of Greece and Rome, were favoured equally 
by the common people and by the governing classes. 
The Marneion, or Temple of Marna, at Gaza was regarded 
as a stronghold of heathendom only second to the Serapeum 
at Alexandria. 1 Beside so elaborate a paganism the early 
Christians of Philistia, though they were organised under 
many bishops, were a small and feeble folk. Like the 
Church of Pergamos, they divelt by Satan s seat, and like 
her, in consequence, they had their martyrs. 2 Next neigh- 
bours to the Church of Egypt, they imitated the asceticism 
of Antony, and avowed the orthodoxy of Athanasius. The 
deserts of Egypt sent them monks, who, scattered over the 
plain and the low hills of Shephelah, gradually converted 
the country people, with a power which the Hellenism of 
the cities had no means to counteract. 3 It is their caves 

1 Jerome ad Lactam, ep. vii., and Commentary to Isaiah, c. xvii. 

2 Rev. ii. 13. For martyrs see Eusebius, H.E. viii. 13, Sozomen, passim. 
9 Jerome, Life ^ Hilarion. Sozomen's History, vi. 31. 



The Philistines and their Cities 1 8 1 



and the ruins of their cloisters which we come across 
to-day in the quiet glens of the Shephelah, especially in 
the neighbourhood of Beit-Jibrin. 1 For a little, Constan- 
tine's favour gave them a freer course in the cities, but this 
was closed by the following hostility of Julian ; and it was 
not till 402, under the influence of Theodosius, and at the 
hands of the vigorous Bishop Porphyry of Gaza, 2 that the 
Cross triumphed, and idolatry was abolished. Then the 
Marneion was destroyed, almost on the same site on which 
Samson drew down the Temple of Dagon fifteen hundred 
years before. But this was only the climax of a process of 
which the country monks must get the credit. In the 
same glens where the early peasants of Israel had beaten 
back the Philistine armies with ox-goads, 3 and David, with 
his shepherd's sling, had slain the giant, simple monks, 
with means as primitive, gained the first victories for 
Christ over as strenuous a paganism. 

After this, life in Philistia is almost silent till the 
Crusades, and after the Crusades till now. 

This rapid sketch of the four periods of Philistine 
history will prepare us both for our review of the great 
Philistine cities in this chapter, and of the Shephelah in 
the next. The five Philistine cities we take now from the 
south northwards. 

Gaza may best be described as in most respects the 
southern counterpart of Damascus. It is a site of abur.- 

1 See ch. xi. The labours of these monks were especially numerous in the 
r6/uoj of Eleutheropolis : Eusebius. 

2 Life of Porphyry, by Marcus the Deacon, in the Acta Sanctorum. 

3 The story of Shamgar and his slaughter of 600 Philistines with an 
ox-goad (Judges iii. 31) is no doubt, as many have suggested, a typical 
instance of the fact above stated. 



1 82 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



dant fertility on the edge of a great desert 1 — a harbour 
for the wilderness and a market for the nomads ; once, 
as Damascus is still, the rendezvous of a great 

Gaza. 

pilgrimage; and as Damascus was the first great 
Syrian station across the desert from Assyria, so Gaza is 
the natural outpost across the desert from Egypt This, 
indeed, is to summarise her position and history. 

Gaza lies to-day where she lay in the most ancient times, 
on and around a hill, which rises 100 feet above the plain, 
Gaza and at tnree miles' distance from the sea. Fifteen 
the Desert. we u s f fresh water burst from the sandy soil, 
and render possible the broad gardens and large popula- 
tion. 2 The Bedouin from a hundred miles away come 
into the bazaars for their cloth, weapons, and pottery. In 
the days when the pilgrimage to Sinai was made rather 
from Syria than from Egypt, the caravans were organised 
in Gaza for thf desert march. 3 The inhabitants were 
characterised as * lovers of pilgrims,' whom, no doubt, like 
the Damascenes, they found profitable. As from Damascus, 
so from Gaza great trade-routes travelled in all directions — 
to Egypt, to South Arabia, and in the times of the Naba- 

1 iirl T-rj ipxv tpn/J-W' Arrian, AnabasisW. 26. For Damascus seech, xxx. 

1 Arrian, Anab. Alex. ii. 26, reckons Gaza at twenty stadia from the sea. 
The hill is not extensive. The gardens spread about it four miles north and 
south by two and a half east and west. The population is said to be 18,000 
at present, and, except when ruined, the town was described by writers of all 
ages as large, splendid, and opulent. For detailed descriptions see P.E.F. 
Mem. Hi. ; Z.D.P. V. viii., but especially xi., with plan by Gatt, p. 149. In 
T483 twice as big as Jerusalem : Felix Fabri {P.P.T.), ii. 450. 

3 Rather than at Hebron, even when the pilgrimage was to or from Jeru- 
salem, for the Bedouin still avoid Hebron, but come readily to Gaza : Robin- 
son, B.R. i. Cf. Anton. Placen. Itiner. (570 A.D.), which describes (ch. 
xxxiii.) the Gazans as * homines honestissimi, omni liberalitate decori, amatores 
peregrinorum.' Antoninus took eighteen or nineteen days on the way to Sinai 
Antonius de Cremona says: ' De monte Synay usque ad Gazam fuimus xv. 
diebus in deserto.' Cf. also Bernhard, de la Brocquerie (1432). 



The Philistines and their Cities 183 

tean kingdom to Petra and Palmyra. 1 Amos curses Gaza 
for trafficking in slaves with Edom. 2 When the descriptions 
of Strabo and Pliny reach Gaza, almost the only fact they 
find relevant is her distance from Elath, on the Gulf of 
Akaba. 8 From all those eastern depots, on sea and desert, 
Gaza, by her harbour, in Greek times forwarded the riches 
of Arabia and India across the Mediterranean, as Acca did 
by the Palmyra-Damascus route. The Crusaders alone do 
not appear to have used Gaza for commerce, because this 
part of Palestine was never so securely in their hands as 
to permit them to dominate the roads south and east for 
any distance, and they tapped the eastern trade by the 
route Moab, Jericho, Jerusalem, Joppa. 4 But through 
Moslem times the stream has partly followed its old 
channel. To this day caravans setting out from Gaza 
meet the Damascus Hajj at Ma'en with pilgrims and 
supplies. 6 Their common interest in those routes has gene- 
rally kept the people of Gaza and the Bedouin on good 
terms. Bates, the Persian who defended Gaza against 
Alexander the Great, employed Arab mercenaries; 6 in 
the military history of Judah, Arabians are twice joined 
with Philistines ; 7 the excursions of the Maccabees against 
the Philistine towns were usually directed against the 
1 nomads ' as well ; 8 and, on the eve of her desolation by 
Alexander Janneus, Gaza was looking wistfully across the 

1 Pliny, Hist. Nat. v. 12. Cf. ch. xxix. 2 Amos i. 6. 

* Strabo, vi. 20; Pliny, Hist. Nat. v. 12, cf. 14. 
4 Rey's Les Colonies Franques dans U xii. it xiii. sihles, ch. ix. 
6 Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, pp. 436, 658 ; Doughty's Arabia Deserta y 
I. p. 133, where it is said that caravans also come from Hebron to Ma'en. 

6 Arrian, Anab. ii. 26, 27 ; Quintus Curtius, iv. 6. 

7 In bringing tribute to Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. xvii. II, and in invading 
[ehoram, 2 Chron. xxi. 16. 

8 1 Maccabees. 



184 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



desert for King Aretas, the Arabian, to come to her help. 1 
In the Moslem invasion Gaza was one of the first points 
in Syria which Abu Bekr's soldiers struck, 2 and the Byzan- 
tine army was defeated in the suburbs. After that the 
Mohammedans called Gaza Dehliz el Moulk, ' the Thresh- 
old of the Kingdom/ 

But Gaza has even closer relations with Egypt. The 
eight days' march across the sands from the Delta requires 
Gaza and ^ at *f an arm y come up that way into Syria, 
Egypt. Gaza, being their first relief from the desert, 
should be in friendly hands. Hence the continual efforts 
of Egypt to hold the town. Alike under the Pharaohs of 
the sixteenth to the fourteenth centuries, and the Ptolemies 
of the third and second, we find Gaza occupied, or bitterly 
fought for, by Egyptian troops. 3 Alexander, invading 
Egypt, and Napoleon, invading Syria, had both to capture 
her. Napoleon has emphasised the indispensableness of 
Gaza, whether in the invasion or the defence of the Nile 
Valley. 4 Gaza is the outpost of Africa, the door of Asia. 
Gaza never lay within the territories of early Israel, 5 

1 Josephus xiii. Antt. xiii. 3. 

2 By the most southerly of the three brigades — that of Amr Ibn el Assi— 
Gaza seems to have been taken in 634. 

8 The Annals of Thothmes III.; The Tell-cl-Amarna Letters of the fifteenth 
century ; the records of Ramses' conquests in the fourteenth. Sayce supposes 
the Philistines were planted by the Egyptians in Gaza and her sister cities as 
outposts of Egypt {Races of the O.T., p. 54), yet Egypt is always represented 
as hostile to them, Miiller, Asien u. Europa, 388 ff. Cf. Jer. xlvii. From 
323, when Ptolemy Lagos took it (Diod. Sic. xix. 59), Gaza frequently passed 
from the Ptolemies to the Antiochi, and back again, till 198 B.C. (Polybius, v.), 
when it fell to Antiochus the Great, and remained part of the Syriar kingdom 
for a century. But see Additional Notes on p. 198. 

4 Op. cit. II. ch. vii. 

6 A later addition to Josh, xv., viz. vv. 45-47, sets Gaza within the ideal 
borders of Judah ; but this has no confirmation, and, indeed, is contradicted 
by the true reading of Judges i. 18, where a not should be inserted from the 
LXX. The Gaza of I Chron. vii. 28 is another Gaza, near Shechem. 



The Philistines and their Cities 185 



though Israel's authority, as in Solomon's time, 1 and tem- 
porary conquests, as in Hezekiah's, 2 might extend to hei 
gates ; and this is to be explained by the pres- Gaza and 
tige which Egypt, standing immediately behind, Tsraeh 
cast upon her. Under the Maccabees, as we have seen, 
Jewish armies carried fire and sword across Philistia. 
Ekron and Ashdod were taken, Askalon came to terms, 
and, after Jonathan had burnt her suburbs, Gaza was 
forced to buy him off. 3 It was not till 96 B.C. that Jews 
actually crossed her walls, but in that year the pent- 
up hatred of centuries burst in devastation upon her. 
Alexander Janneus, taking advantage of the withdrawal 
from Syria of the Egyptian troops, invested Gaza. After 
a year's siege, in which the whole oasis was laid waste, the 
town itself was captured by treachery, its buildings burned, 
and its people put to the sword. 4 Gaza, to use the word 
that is echoed of her by one writer after another for the 
next century, lay desert. 5 In 62, Pompey took Gaza — now 
called a maritime city, like Joppa — from the Jews, and 
made it a free city. 6 In 57, Gabinius rebuilt it, 7 certainly 
on a new site, and possibly close to its harbour, which all 
through the Greek period had been growing in importance. 
In 30, Gaza, still called ' a maritime city,' was granted by 
Caesar to Herod, 8 but at the latter's death, being Greek, as 

1 I Kings iv. 24. Azza, or rather 'Azza, is the more correct spelling of Gaza. 

* 2 Kings xviii. 8. 

8 Josephus xiii. Antt. xv. 5 ; 1 Macc.'xi. 60. In xiii, 4, read Gazarafor Gaza. 

* Josephus xiii. Antt. xiii. 3. 

5 TToXi/v xpt> vov eprjfiovs, Josephus xiv. Antt. v. 3 ; fxtvovaa. ^pvp-os, Strabo 
xvi. 2. 30 ; and 17 Zprifios T&£a, the anonymous Greek geographer in Hudson's 
Geographies veter. script. Graci Minores, iv. p. 39. 

* Josephus xiv. Antt. v. 3. 

7 Josephus xiv. Antt. iv. 4 ; i. Wars, vii. 7. In both of these passage* 
Gaza is separated from the inland towns, and called Maritime. 

8 Josephus xv. Antt. vii. 3. 



1 86 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Josephus says, it was again taken from the Jews, and added 
to the Imperial Province of Syria. 1 ' New ' Gaza flourished 
Gaza which exceedingly at this time, but the Old or Desert 
is Desert. Gaza was not forgotten, probably not even 
wholly abandoned, for the trunk-road to Egypt still travelled 
past it. In the Book of Acts, in the directions given to 
Philip to meet the Ethiopian eunuch, this is accurately 
noted : A rise, and go toward the south, unto the way that 
goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza ; this is desert} Most 
authorities connect the adjective, not with Gaza, but with 
the way ; yet no possible route from Jerusalem to Gaza 
could be called desert, and this being so, and several 
writers ol the period immediately preceding having used 
the phrase of the town itself, it seems that we are not only 
encouraged, but shut up, to the same reference here. If 
New Gaza, as is probable, lay at this time upon the coast, 
then we know that the road the Ethiopian travelled did 
not take that direction, and in describing the road it was 
natural to mention the old site — Desert, not necessarily in 
reality, but still in name — which was always a station upon 
it. That Philip was found immediately after at Ashdod 
suggests that the meeting and the baptism took place on 
the Philistine Plain, and not among the hills of Judaea, 
where tradition has placed them. But that would mean 
the neighbourhood of Gaza, and an additional reason for 
mentioning the town. 3 

1 Josephus xvii. Antt. xi. 4 ; ii. Wars, vi. 3. Also the earliest imperial 
coins of Gaza date from a year or two after this (De Saulcy, Numismatique 
de la Terre Saintt, p. 213). 2 Acts viii. 26. 

3 My only difficulty in coming to this conclusion is that so many autho- 
rities are against it ; but it seems to me so impossible to describe any route 
from Jerusalem to Gaza as desert— whether it be that by Beit-Jibrin, which 
Robinson {B. R. ii. ; Phys. Geog. 108, 109) selects, or the longer one b) 
Hebron, which Raumer and Guerin prefer (Judie, ii. p. 204), Guerin sup. 



The Philistines and their Cities 187 



The subsequent history of Gaza is identified, as we have 
seen, with the struggle of Christianity against heathendom. 
In the second and third centuries Gaza Gaza and 
became a prosperous centre of Greek com- Cnnstiamt y- 
merce and culture. Her schools were good, but her 
temples were famous, circling round the Marneion, or House 

porting his choice by the unfounded remark that fewer people took this route, 
and therefore it might be distinguished as tprjfios from the other — that I feel 
we are shut up to taking Zprjfxos as referring to Gaza. Now, had Acts viii. 
been a document of the first century B.C., there could have been no doubt 
about the reference, for Gaza was then left ' desert,' as explicitly stated by 
Josephus xiv. Antt. iv. 4, and remained desert, as witnessed by Strabo xvi. 
2. 30, and by the Anonymous Geographical Fragment in Geogr. Grcec. 
Minores, ed. Hudson, iv. p. 39. This Fragment gives a list of towns from 
south to north, and says that after Rinocoloura, rj vea Tafa kcitm, t6\is od<ra 
Kal oLVTTj, etff rj Uprjfios Tafa, etra 77 A(Tk6.\ov t6\ls. Diodorus Siculus (xix. 80) 
had also spoken of an Old Gaza (ij waXaia Tdfa) as the town where Ptolemy 
Lagos, in 312, defeated Demetrius Poliorcetes, as if to distinguish it from the 
New Gaza (which he does not name) of his (Diodorus') own time. Schiirer, 
Hist. Div. 11. vol. ii. 71, holds that the New Gaza was not the port, but 
another town lying inland, and, according to the Anonymous Fragment, 
to the south of Old Gaza ; but there is no evidence of this. The New Gaza 
of the Fragment might as well be a coast town as Askalon ; and Josephus' 
statement that the Gaza Pompey enfranchised in 62 was not an inland city, 
like Ashdod and Jamnia, but a maritime, like Joppa and Dora (Josephus xiv. 
Antt. iv. 4; cf. Josephus xv. Antt. vii. 3, where again it is 'maritime,' like 
Joppa) seems to make it probable that the Gaza which Gabinius rebuilt (id. 
v. 3) was on the coast. If this be so, then it lay off the road to Egypt, which 
still passed by the desert Gaza. It is not necessary to suppose that this latter 
was absolutely deserted even in Philip's time. The fertile site and neighbour- 
hood of the great road would attract people back ; but, even though it were 
largely like its old self again, the name "Eprj/xos might stick to it. Gaza is 
said to have been demolished by the Jewish revolt of 66 a.d. (ii. Wars, xvii. 1), 
and if this had been true, we might have had a new reason why the author of 
Acts viii. added the gloss ' this is desert ' to his description of Gaza ; but, as 
Schiirer remarks, we have coins of the years immediately following, which 
testify to the city's continued prosperity (cf. De Saulcy, Num. de la T.S., p. 
214). However this may be, the process of the return of the city to its old 
site, which may have begun, as I say, before Philip's time, was completed in 
the following centuries, and the reason of it is clear. The land trade was 
always likely to prevail over the sea trade on such a coast, and the old site 
had, besides the road, its fertility and fifteen wells. In 363 A.D. the Gazans 



1 88 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



of the city's god, Mama. Marna, Lord or our Lord, 1 was 
the Baal of Gaza, Lord of Heaven and sun and rain, whom 
it was easy to identify with Zeus. A statue, discovered a 
short time since at Tell-el-'Ajjul, is supposed to be the 
image of Marna, and it bears resemblance to the Greek 
face of the Father of gods and men. 2 Around him were 
Zeus Nikephorus, Apollo, Aphrodite, Tyche, Proserpina, 
Hecate — nearly the whole Syrian pantheon. Truly the 
Church of Gaza dwelt, like the Church of Pergamos, where 
Satan's seat is : and like her she had her many martyrs. 3 
Constantine, rinding the inland Gaza's authorities obdur- 
ately pagan, gave a separate constitution to the sea-town, 
or Maiumas, which he entitled Constantia, and there was 
a bishop of this besides the Bishop of Gaza. But Julian 
took these privileges away. For generations the rival 
cries ' Marna/ ' Jesus,' rent the streets and circuses. How 
the Church in 402 finally won the political victory under 
Theodosius and her famous Bishop Porphyry we have 
already seen. 4 After this the schools of Gaza in philosophy 
and rhetoric grew more and more distinguished. Students, 
it is said, left Athens to learn the Attic style in Philistia, 
and even Persia borrowed her teachers. 6 We get a glimpse 
of the citizens in the close of the sixth century, ' very 
honest, beautiful with all liberality, lovers of pilgrims.' 6 
But in 635 Gaza became Moslem, and, for obvious 
reasons, gradually declined to the rank of a respectable 

believed themselves to be on the same site as Old Gaza, and the temples 
destroyed in 402, and the churches built in their stead, occupied the site of 
the city to-day which agrees with the description of the site of Gaza taken 
by Alexander the Great (Arrian, Anab. ii. 26). Jerome's statement in the 
Onomasticon is too vague to be taken into account. 

1 Cf. Maphv &dd of I Cor. xvi. 22. 3 P.E.F.Q., 1882. 

1 Euseb. H.E. and Sozomen passim. * P. 180 f. 

• For details see Stark, pp. 631-645. • S«e p. 182 n. 3. 



The Philistines and their Cities 189 



station of traffic. Even with the Crusaders her military 
importance did not revive. They found her almost deserted, 
and they took no trouble to fortify her. Their chief for- 
tress in Philistia was Askalon, and their southern outpost 
was Daroma, now Deir-el-Belat, on the Wady, three hours 
south of Gaza. 

Near Gaza there was a town, Anthedon, 1 which occurs 
in Josephus, and is mentioned by Pliny, Ptolemy, and 
Sozomen. Alexander Janneus took it when he took 
Gaza : it was rebuilt and enfranchised under the Romans, 
and in Christian times had a bishop. 2 Near this town, then 
called Tadun, the Moslems defeated the Byzantines in 
635. The site was lost till the other day, when Herr Gatt 
heard the name Teda given by a native to some ruins 
twenty-five minutes north of Gaza harbour, and near the 
sea. 8 Anthedon must have been virtually a suburb of Gaza. 

We take next Askalon, or as the Hebrews called it, 
'Ashkelon. The site, which to-day bears the name, 4 has 
been already described : it is a rocky amphi- 

J J 1 Askalon. 

theatre in the low bank of the coast, and filled 
by Crusading ruins. 5 Since the fortifications, as at Csesarea, 
are bound together by pillars of Herod's time, it is certain 
that the Askalon, which Herod embellished, 6 stood here 

1 Josephus xiii. Antt. xiii. 3 ; xv. 4 ; i. Wars, iv. 2 ; Pliny, Hist. Nat. v. 
14; Ptol., Geogr. v. 16. 3 Acta Conciliorum. 

3 This proves that Pliny was wrong in putting Anthedon inland from Gaza, 
and Ptolemy right in calling it a coast town. For an account of Gatt's dis- 
covery, see Z.D.P.V. vii. 5 ff . ; cf. 140, 141. It contains the following 
beautiful summary of tradition. After asking the name of the place and hear- 
ing it was Teda, Gatt said to his informant : ' Whence knowest thou that ? ' 
' From those who have lived before me have I heard it. Is it not with you 
as with us — some are born and others die, and the old tell the young what 
they know ? ' 

4 In Arabic 'Askalan, with initial 'Ayin instead of Aleph. 

6 See description by Guthe, with plan by Schick, Z.D.P. V. ii. 164 ff. 
• L Wars xxi. 11. 



190 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



also, though extending farther inland : and there is no hint 
in Josephus that Herod's Askalon occupied any other site 
than that of the old Philistine city. If this be so, then of 
all the Philistine Pentapolis, Askalon was the only one 
which lay immediately on the sea. 1 This fact, combined 
with distance from the trunk-road on which Gaza, Ashdod, 
and Ekron stand, is perhaps the explanation of a certain 
singularity in Askalon's history, when compared with that 
of her sisters. The town has no natural strength, but is 
very well watered. 

Take her in her period of greatest fame. During the 
Crusades Askalon combined within herself the significance 
Askalon in °f a ^ tne fortresses of Philistia, and proved the 
the Crusades. key to S outh-west Palestine. To the Arabs 
she was the 1 Bride of Syria,' ( Syria's Summit' 2 The 

1 Doubt upon this point has arisen solely from these facts, that in the Acts 
of the Council of Constantinople, 536, there are mentioned both a Bishop of 
Askalon and a Bishop of the Port or Maiumas of Askalon, and that Antoninus 
Placentinus (c. 33), a.d. 570, and Benjamin of Tudela mention two Ascalons 
from which Pusey drew the conclusion that the Philistine city lay inland 
{P.E.F.Q., 1874). These data are important, but cannot counterbalance 
the positive assertions of Josephus that Herod's Askalon, which was the 
Crusader's Ascalon on the coast, was an ancient city (iii. Wars, ii. 1), and 520 
stadia from Jerusalem, too great a distance for any but a coast town. 
Josephus nowhere describes Askalon as maritime (in the passage just quoted 
he says it was walled about), unless in i. Wars, xxi. 11, the clause which de- 
scribes the Laodiceans as dwelling on the sea-shore covers also the inhabitants 
of Askalon in the next clause. It is possible that ancient Askalon spread far 
inland : the hollow by the sea is very small, the Crusading town there was 
little more than a fortress, and ancient ruins, of what must have been large 
edifices, lie far inland (cf. GueVin, fudee ii. 134. ) The harbour town may have 
been definitely separated from the town behind. Conder's suggestion that a 
Khurbet Askalon in the Shephelah may be the Askalon of the Acts of the 
Council of Constantinople, has nothing to support it but the name {P.E.F. 
Mem.). GueVin's idea that the inhabitants tried to create a better port than 
that at their feet, either north or south, may be the solution of the difficulty. 
He found no traces of such ; but it is noteworthy that the next stream to ihc 
south bears the name among others of the Nahr 'Askulan. 

9 T.e Strange, Palestine under the Moslems. 



The Philistines and their Cities 191 



Egyptians held her long after the Crusaders were settled 
in Jerusalem. She faced the Christian outposts at Ramleh, 
resisted many assaults, and discharged two expeditions up 
to the walls of Jerusalem, before she was captured by 
Baldwin III. in 1 1 54. The scene of two more battles 
Askalon was retaken by Saladin in 1187, and dismantled 
five years later when he retired upon Jerusalem. The 
Christians tried to rebuild the fortress, but the truce came, 
one of the articles of which was that the town should be 
fortified by neither party, and it was finally demolished by 
Bibars in 1270. This fierce contest and jealousy between 
powers occupying respectively Syria and Egypt, the 
plains and the hills, amply certify the strategical importance 
of the old Philistine site. That through all the Crusades, 
Askalon should have enjoyed chief importance, while Gaza 
had hardly any is certainly due to the situation on the 
coast. Both Moslems and Christians had fleets which from 
time to time supplied and supported Askalon from the 
sea. 

It may have been this same touch with the sea which 
proved Askalon's value to its ancient masters, especially if 
it be here that the Philistines were reinforced by 

• /-« it • Askalon in 

direct immigration from Crete. 1 Jeremiah con- the History 
nects it with the sea-shore. 2 In David's lamen- 
tation over Saul, it is not Gath and Gaza, but Gath and 
Ashkelon which are taken as two typical Philistine cities. 
Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon : it may be that these 
were bazaars ; 3 and there is a sound of trade, a clinking of 

1 Hence the Cherethim, but see p. 169 ff. As we have seen, Askalon was a 
fortress in Ramses II. 's time, before the Philistines came : taken by Ramses II. 
from the Hittites, cf. Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr. altaegyptisch.tr Dcnkmahr ii. 

2 xlvii. 7. ■ 2 Sam. i. 20, cf. 2 Kings xx. 34. 



192 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



shekels, about the city's very name. 1 Askalon was always 
opulent and spacious. 2 The Assyrian flood covered all 
things, and Askalon suffered from it as much as her neigh- 
bours. 3 But in the times of the Maccabees she recovered 
her distinction. She was not so bitter to Judaism as the 
other Hellenic towns, and so escaped their misfortunes at 
the hands of Jonathan. 4 When Alexander Janneus devas- 
tated Gaza, Askalon kept her peace with that excitable 
savage. She was the first in Philistia to secure the pro- 
tection of Rome, and enjoyed her freedom earlier and more 
continuously than the rest. Through Roman and Byzan- 
tine times she was a centre of Hellenic culture, producing 
even more grammarians and philosophers than her neigh- 
bours. 5 

If Askalon takes her name from trade, Ashdod, like 
Gaza, takes hers from her military strength. 6 Her citadel 
was probably the low hill, beside the present 

Ashdod. 

village. It was well watered, and commanded 
the mouth of the most broad and fertile wady in Philistia. 
It served, also, as the half-way station on the great road 
between Gaza and Joppa, and, as we have seen, the inland 
branch broke off here for Ekron and Ramleh. The ruins 
of a great khan have outlived those of the fortresses from 
which the city took her name. Ashdod also, like her 
sisters, had suffered her varying fortunes in the war 
with Israel, and like them suffered for her position in 

1 Ashkelon, from shaka/, to weigh, or to pay. Hence shekel or shekel. 

2 For Herod's time, cf. Josephus iii. Wars ii. I, etc. ; Under the Moslems, 
Le Strange, op. cit. 

' Cf. Conquests of Sargon and Sennacherib : Records of the Past. 
4 1 Mace. x. 86 ; xi. 60. 

6 P.E.F.Q.y 1888, 22-23, describes two statues found at Askalon. Reinacfc 
{Revue des Etudes fuives, 1888) ascribes them to the first century B.C. They 
are Victories. 6 I Sam. iv. ; 2 Chron. xxvi. 8, 



The Philistines and their Cities 193 



the way between Assyria and Egypt. Sargon besieged 
and took her, as related in Isaiah ; 1 Sennacherib besieged 
and took her, 2 but her most wonderful siege, which 
Herodotus calls the longest in history, was that for twenty- 
two years by Psammetichus. 8 Judas Maccabeus cleared 
Ashdod of idols in 163, and in 148 Jonathan and Simon 
burnt her temple of Dagon. 4 But, like Askalon, Ashdod 
was now thoroughly Greek, and was enfranchised by 
Pompey. 

Ekron, the modern 'Akir, as Robinson discovered, won 
its place in the league by possession of an oracle of 
Baal-zebub, or Baal of the Flies, 5 and by a site 
on the northern frontier of Philistia, in the V ale 
of Sorek, where a pass breaks through the low hills to 
Ramleh. That is to say, like so many more ancient cities, 
Ekron had the double fortune of a sanctuary and a market 
on a good trade route. Ekron was nearer the territory 
of Israel than the other Philistine towns, and from this 
certain consequences flowed. It was from Ekron that the 
ark was returned to Israel, by the level road up the Sorek 
valley to Beth-shemesh, not twelve miles away. Amos 
uses a phrase of Ekron as if she were more within reach than 
her sister towns : 6 she was ceded to the Maccabees by the 
Syrians ; 7 and, after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews 
readily came to her, for, like Lydda, she was in a valley that 
led down from Jerusalem. To-day the Joppa-Jerusalem 
railway travels past her. With Ekron we may take a town 
that stood very near in rank to the first Philistine five — 
Jabneh, or Jabneel, 8 with a harbour at the mouth of the 

1 Isa. xx. 2 I Rec. of Past. v. 

8 Herod, ii. 157. 4 I Mace. v. 68 ; x. 83, 84. 

6 2 Kings i. 2. 6 Amos i. 8. 7 1 Mace. x. 89. 

8 That is, God buildeth, Josh. xv. II. 

N 



194 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Rubin, famous in the history of the Jews for their fre- 
quent capture of it, 1 and for the settlement there of the 
Jewish Sanhedrim and a school of Rabbinic theology 
after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. Yebna, as 
the town is now called, lies in a fertility of field and 
grove that helps us to understand the repute of the district 
for populousness. 2 The ruins are those of churches built 
by the Crusaders, who called the place by a corruption 
of its full name, reversing / and n as usual, Ibelin for 
Jabniel. 

Now, where is Gath ? Gath, the city of giants, died out 
with the giants. That we have to-day no certain knowledge 
of her site is due to the city's early and absolute 

Gath. ; J ■ . 

disappearance. Amos, about 750 B.C., points 
to her recent destruction by Assyria as a warning that 
Samaria must now follow. Before this time, Gath has 
invariably been mentioned in the list of Philistine cities, 
and very frequently in the account of the wars between 
them and Israel. But, after this time, the names of the 
other four cities are given without Gath — by Amos himself, 
by Jeremiah, by Zephaniah, and in the Book of Zechariah 3 
— and Gath does not again appear in either the Old 
Testament, 4 or the Books of the Maccabees, or those 
parts of Josephus which treat of centuries subsequent to 
the eighth. This can only mean that Gath, both place 
and name, was totally destroyed about 750 B.C. ; and 
renders valueless all statements as to the city's site 
which are based on evidence subsequent to that date - as, 

1 1 Mace. v. 58. 

2 Strabo, vii. 18. 2. Philo in his account of his embassy to Caligula. 
8 Amos i. 6-8 ; Jer. xlvii. ; Zeph. ii. 2-7 ; Zech. ix. 5-7. 

4 Micah i. IO : Tell it not in Gath is hardly an exception, for the expres- 
sion is proverbial. 



The Philistines and their Cities 195 



for instance, that of the Onomasticon, on which so much 
stress has been laid by recent writers on this question, 1 
or that of the Crusaders, who identified Gath with the site 
of Jabneh. 2 

When we turn to the various appearances of Gath in 
history, before the time of Amos, what they tell us about 
the site is this : Gath lay inland, on the borders of Hebrew 
territory, and probably in the north of Philistia. When 
the ark was taken from Ashdod, it was brought about, that 
is inland, again to Gath. 3 Gath was the Philistine city 
most frequently taken by the Israelites, and, indeed, was 
considered along with Ekron as having originally belonged 
to Israel : 4 after taking Gath, Hazael set his face to go up 
to Jerusalem? All this implies an inland position, and 
hence nearly all writers have sought Gath among the 
hills of the Shephelah or at their junction with the plain 
— at the south-east angle of the plain, 6 at Kefr Dikkerin, 7 
at Deir Dubban, 8 and at Beit-Jibrin, or 'home of big men.' 
The only argument for so southerly a position is Gath's 

1 Onomasticon, art. Y40, 'and it is even now a village as you go from 
Eleutheropolis (Beit-Jibrin) to Diospolis (Lydda), about the fifth milestone 
from Eleutheropolis.' Robinson, Conder, Gu£rin, all make much of this 
valueless tradition. 

2 Will, of Tyre, xv. 24 ; Fel. Fab, ii. 425. s 1 Sam. v. 8. 

4 Gath was taken under Samuel (1 Sam. vii. 14), and is then described as 
originally Israelite. Taken also by David, according to I Chron. xviii. 1 ; 
but this is perhaps due to reading (rightly or wrongly) the parallel text, 

1 Sam. vii. 14 : Metheg Ha Ammah, bridle of the motker-city ', as if it were 
Gath Ha Ammah, Gath the metropolis. Taken also by Uzziah (2 Chron. 
xxvi. 6), this must have been early in his long reign. But the statement, in 

2 Chron. xi. 5-8, that Gath was among the cities rebuilt by Rehoboam may, 
if Gath be the true reading (Josephus viii. Antt. x. I substitutes Ipa 01 
Ipan), mean, from the other towns mentioned, another Gath, near Beit-Jibrin. 

5 2 Kings xii. 7. 

8 Trelawney Saunders, Introduction to Survey, etc 

7 Guerin, Judie. 8 Robinson, 



196 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



connection with Ziklag in the story of David and Achish, 1 
and this is scarcely conclusive. On the other hand, Gath is 
mentioned between Askalon and Ekron, 2 several times with 
Ekron, and especially in the pursuit of the Philistines from 
the Vale of Elah. 3 In a raid of Uzziah, Gath is coupled 
with Jamnia and Ashdod. 4 None of this prevents us from 
fixing on a site much favoured by modern writers, Tell-es- 
Safiyeh, which commands the entrance to the Vale of 
Elah and looks across Philistia to the sea. Steep limestone 
scarps rise boldly from the plain to a broad plateau, still 
known by the natives as the Castle. During the Crusades, 
King Fulke fortified it, it was destroyed by Saladin, and is 
said to have been restored by Richard. They called it 
Blanchegarde, from its white frontlet. It is altogether too 
important a site to have been neglected by either Israel 
or the Philistines, and this lends the argument in its 
favour some weight. But it is not enough for proof. 
Tell-es-Safiyeh may have been Libnah, the White, 5 or the 
Mizpeh of the Shephelah. 6 Gath has also been placed at 
Beit-Jibrin, the 4 home of big men,' both because this 
might well have served as a by-name for the city of 
the giants, 7 and is in the neighbourhood of Mareshah, 8 and 
because Beit-Jibrin has not been identified with any other 
great town of antiquity. But Beit-Jibrin is too far south, 
and does not lie on the line of the rout of the Philistines 
after the battle of Shocoh. 9 We must look farther north 
and towards Ekron. The first Book of Chronicles mentions 
a Gath convenient to Ajalon and the hills of Ephraim, 10 but 

1 1 Sam. xxvii. 2-6. 2 I Sam. v. 8. 

• Ibid. xvii. 52. 4 2 Chron. xxvi. 6. 
B Josh. x. 29, 31 f. ; 2 Kings viii. 22, etc. 6 Josh. xv. 38. 

7 2 Sam. xxi. 22. 8 Cf. Moresheth-gath, Mic i. 14. 

• I Sam. xvii. 52. 10 1 Chron. vii. 21 : viii. 13. 



The Philistines and their Cities 197 



this may be Gath-rimmon, which lay towards Joppa. The 
case is made more difficult by the fact that Gath is a 
generic name, meaning ' winepress,' and was applied, as we 
might have expected, to several villages, usually with 
another name attached. 1 Remarkably enough, like their 
great namesake, they have all disappeared, and in that 
land of the vine almost no site called after the wine- 
press has held its name. 

This, then,— that Gath lay inland, on the borders of 
Israel, probably near to Ekron, and perhaps in the mouth 
of a pass leading up to Jerusalem, — is all we know of 
the town which was once so famous, and which wholly 
vanished 2500 years ago. 2 Gath perished with its giant 
race. 



FURTHER NOTE ON THE ORIGIN OF THE PHILISTINES. 

Since this chapter was in the printer's hands, I have seen the passages on 
the Philistines in W. Max M tiller's Asien u. Europa nach den alt-dgyptischen 
Denkmalern (Leipzig, 1893). His statements on pp. 361, 387 ff., amount to 
this. Among the pirates from Asia Minor whom Ramses III. {cir. 1200) 
attacked were Pu-ra-sa-ti, 'from the midst of the sea,' Danona, Ta-k-ka-ra, 
etc., with European features and some of the costume of Asia Minor. They 
may have been Ancient- Lycian tribes from the east of the Aegean (p. 388) ; 
the theory is not impossible that they were pre-Hellenic inhabitants of the 
Greek Isles, perhaps the ^TedKprjTes of Od. xix. 176, thrown into movement 
by the Greek advance westward (Danona and Ta-k-ka-ra, perhaps Advaoi 



1 Cf. Gath-ha-hepher, the birthplace of Jonah, in Galilee, Gath-rimmon 
near Joppa : Gath-rimmon in Eastern Manasseh, Joshua xxi. 25. 

2 For Gath, in the Egyptian records, see 2 R.P. v. 48, Nos. 63 and 70; 
ii. 64, 65. The Assyrian lists mention a Gunti or Guntu near Ashdod, 
which some have identified as Gath. Guntu may be the Egyptian Ka-na-ti 
given in Thothmes' list (Miiller, Asien u. Europa, etc., l6l), Muller {lb. 
p. 159 and p. 393) suggests Kn-tu of Shishank's list as od* of the many 
Gaths of Palestine. 



198 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



and Teikpoi ? ?). The Pu-ra-sa-ti are the chief tribe ; they are the Philistines. 
In 1200 Ramses III. represents them as unsettled. The Papyrus Golemschefl 
describes the other tribe Ta-k-ka-ra as settled in Dor by 1050. The 
Philistine invasion of the Maritime Plain from Gaza to Carmel, mentioned in 
Deut. ii. 23, Miiller dates from a little before this. He supposes the sudden 
decline of their power in David's reign to be due to an invasion of the 
Maritime Plain by Egypt. Shishank's list of conquests {circa 980 B.C.) 
excludes the Philistine cities as if already Egyptian. 

W. Max Miiller argues against Ebers' theory that Kaphtor is the Kaft-vere 
= Greater Phoenicia = the Delta, denying that Kft is Phoenicia. He takes 
Kfte or Kfto as the name of Western Asia Minor, and holds that the 
resonance with Kaphtor is more than accidental, though the r in the latter 
is nut explainable. 

Additional Notes to Second Edition (October 1894). — In a review of the 
first edition in the Academy Prof. Sayce says, ' Prof. Smith is fully justified in 
rejecting my view that the Philistines were a sort of Egyptian outpost ' (see 
p. 184, n. 2). 'The fact that Rameses III. claims to have captured Gaza 
seems to show that it was hostile to Egypt after its occupation by the Philis- 
tine invaders. ... I must also withdraw my acceptance of the etymology 
proposed by Prof. Ebers for the name of Caphtor' (cf. p. 170, n. 3). 'My 
discovery of the hieroglyphic form of the name at Kom Ombo last winter 
proves that it cannot be a compound of Kaft and the Egyptian ur, "great," 
whatever else it may be. But the hieroglyphic spelling equally shows that 
Dr. W. Max Miiller is incorrect in making it another form of Kaft. Nor can 
he be right in making Kaft a part of Asia Minor, in spite of the ingenuity of 
the arguments by which the opinion is supported. The Decree of Kanopos 
states categorically that Kaft was Phoenicia, and the Egyptian scribes of the 
Ptolemaic era were more likely to have known the meaning of the name than 
a German scholar of to-day.' 

Additional Note to p. 182, note 3. — Felix Fabri (1483), ii. 93. In Felix 
Fabri Gaza is always spelt Gazara. 

Additional Note to p. 183, n. 3. — Cf. Marciani. Her. Peripl. Mam 
Exterior. (Miiller, Geog. Greed Min. i. p. 522.) 'Gaza distant from the 
head of the ^Elanitic Gulf 1260 stadia.' 

Additional Note to p. 184, note 5. — Mr. G. Buchanan Gray points out that 
the LXX. reading of Judges i. 18 cannot be derived from the Hebrew 
text ; it was easy for LXX. to slip in a * not.' 



CHAPTER X 
THE SHEPHELAH 



For this Chapter consult Maps I. and IV. 



THE SHEPHELAH 



VER the Philistine Plain, as you come up from the 



coast, you see a sloping moorland break into 
scalps and ridges of rock, and over these a loose gathering 
of chalk and limestone hills, round, bare and featureless, 
but with an occasional bastion flung well out in front of 
them. This is the so-called Shephelah — a famous theatre 
of the history of Palestine — the debatable ground between 
Israel and the Philistines, between the Maccabees and the 
Syrians, between Saladin and the Crusaders. 

The name Shephelah means low or lowland} The Sep- 
tuagint mostly renders it by plain? and even in very recent 
works 3 it has been applied to the Plain of Philistia. But the 
towns assigned by the Old Testament to the Shephelah 

1 A feminine form from the verb in the well-known passage, every moun- 
tain shall be made low. It occurs with a like meaning in Arabic, and has 
been suggested as the same root as we find in Seville (Gesenius, Thesaurus, 
sub voce). 2 t6 ireUov or i] iredivq. 

8 Stanley, Sin. Pal., Kittel, Gesch. i. 14, Sieg. Stade, Worterbuch, where 
Shephelah = Kustenebene. Stade, Gesch. i. 157, commits the opposite error 
of calling the Shephelah the ' westliche Abdachung,' as the Negeb is the 
' siidliche Abdachung ' of the Judaean mountain range. This is to recognise 
correctly the distinction of the Shephelah from the Maritime Plain ; but it is 
to overlook the great valley between it and the Judaean range, which pre- 
vents it from being the mere slope or 4 glacis ' of the latter. Knobel and Dill- 
mann, on Josh. xv. 33, are more correct, but still fail to appreciate the break 
between the Judsean range and the hills of the Shephelah. On this see 
p. 205 




202 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



are all of them situated in the low hills and not on the 
plain. 1 The Philistines are said to have made a raid on the 
cities of the Shephelah, which, therefore, must have stood 
outside their own territory, and indeed did so; 2 

The Shephelah J ' ' 

=TheLow and in another passage 3 the time is recalled 
when the Jews inhabited the Shephelah, yet it is 
well known they never inhabited the Maritime Plain. In 
the First Book of the Maccabees, too, I notice that the town 
of Adida is described in one passage as ' in the Shephelah,' 
and in another as ' over against the Plain ; ' 4 while in the 
Talmud the Shephelah is expressly distinguished from the 
Plain, Lydda, at the base of the Low Hills, being marked 
as the point of division. 5 We conclude, therefore, that 
though the name may originally have been used to include 

1 Joshua xv. 33, 2 Chronicles xxviii. 18. Ajalon in its vale, and Gimzo to 
the west of it ; Zorah, Eshtaol and Beth-shemesh in the Vale of Sorek ; 
Gederah to the north, and En-gannim, Zanoah, and Jarmuth within three 
miles to the south of Sorek : Adullam and Shocoh up the Vale of Elah (W. es 
Sunt) : Tappuah in the W. el 'Afranj ; Mareshah, Lachish, and Eglon to the 
south-west of Beit-Jibrin. The others given have not been properly identi- 
fied. Vv. 45-47 of Joshua xv., which give Philistine towns in the Plain, 
are probably a later addition. Eusebius describes the Shephelah as all the 
low country {iredivrj) lying about Eleutheropolis (Beit-Jibrin) to the north 
and the west. It is about Beit-Jibrin that Clermont Ganneau and Conder 
claim to have re-discovered the name, in its Arabic form, Sifla (Tent 
Work, 277). 

2 2 Chronicles xxviii. 18 ; cf. Obad. 19. 8 Zechariah vii. 7. 

4 I Mace. xii. 38, xiii. 13. iv T-p "ZetprjX^ and /card irpbauirov rod wedlov. 
Hadid was a town of Benjamin, Ezra ii. 33. It occurs in the lists of 
Thothmes III. as Hadita ii. R.P. 48. 

6 Talmud, Jer. Shebiith ix. 2. The passage runs : pCI/HI Snfl 
mirP2. 'In Judah there are mountain, Shephelah, and valley land,' or 
plain.' And a note to the Mishna on the country from Beth-horon to the 

sea runs : "M pin fl^D POT rta^ in X\1 B» K\T pin* "1 "IDN 

pcy dti nyi nita nW t6 ijn dixdkd in dinon, which is : ' r. 

Johanan said also, In that region there are Mountain, Shephelah, and Plain. 
From Beth-horon to Emmaus is Mountain, from Emmaus *o Lydda is 
Shephelah, from Lydda to the sea is Plain.' 



The Shephelah 



203 



the Maritime Plain, 1 and this wider use may have been 
occasionally revived, yet the Shephelah proper was the 
region of low hills between that plain and the high Central 
Range. 2 The Shephelah would thus be equivalent to our 
' downs,' low hills as distinguished from high, did it not 
also include the great amount of flat valley land, which is 
as characteristic of this broken region as the subdued 
elevation of its hills. The name has been more fitly 
compared to the Scottish ' Lowlands,' which likewise are 
not entirely plain, but have their groups and ranges of 
hills. 

How far north did the Shephelah run ? From the sea, 
and across the Plain, low hills are seen buttressing the 
Central Range all the way along. Now the 

b . Only those 

name Shephelah might be correctly applied to south of 
the whole length of these low hills ; but with A ^ alon ' 
one exception — in which it is probably used for the low hills 
that separate Carmel from Samaria 8 — it does not appear 
ever to have extended north of the Vale of Ajalon. All the 
towns mentioned in the Old Testament as in the Shephe- 
lah are south of this ; and if the identification be correct 
of ' Adida in the Shephelah' 4 with Haditheh, four miles 

1 There is no positive proof of this in the Old Testament ; but it perhaps 
occuis in Eusebius (see previous page, note i). 

2 It is easy to see why, if it had once extended to the coast, it shrank to the 
low hills, for the Plain had a name of its own, Philistia, while the Jews 
required to distinguish the low hills from the Central Range. 

3 In Joshua xi. 16, after the Mount, the Negeb, the Arabah are men- 
tioned, comes the phrase, and the Mount of Israel and its Shephelah. As I 
have elsewhere pointed out, this can only be that part of the Central Range 
which fell within the kingdom of North Israel, and the low hills between it 
and Carmel, cf. Josh. xi. 2. The Jer. Talmud gives an application of the name 
Shephelah across Jordan (quoted by Reland, ch. xlvii. p. 308), 

4 I Mace. xii. 38 ; ko\ "LLfiuv (fKo56fjLrj<re rty 'A5i5d h rg 2e0??X^ — evidently 
as a cover to the road from Joppa which he had won for the Jews. The 
identification is due to Major Conder. 



204 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



E.N.E. of Lydda, then this is the most northerly instance 
of the name. Roughly speaking, the Shephelah meant 
the low hills south of Ajalon, and not those north of 
Ajalon. Now, very remarkably, this distinction corre- 
sponds with a difference of a physical kind — in the rela- 
tions of these two parts of the low hills to the Central 
Range. North of Ajalon the low hills which run out on 
Sharon are connected with the high mountains behind 
them. You ascend to the latter from Sharon either by 
long sloping ridges, such as that which to-day carries the 
telegraph-wire and the high road from Jaffa to Nablus ; or 
else you climb up terraces, such as the succession of 
ranges closely built upon one another, by which the 
country rises from Lydda to Bethel. That is, the low 
hills west of Samaria are (to use the Hebrew phrase) 
Ashedoth or Slopes of the Central Range, and not a separate 
group. But south of Ajalon the low hills do not so hang 
upon the Central Range, but are separated from the 
mountains of Judaea by a series of valleys, both wide and 
narrow, which run all the way from Ajalon to near Beer- 
sheba ; and it is only where the low hills are thus flung off 
the Central Range into an independent group, separating 
Judaea from Philistia, that the name Shephelah seems to 
have been applied to them. 1 

This difference in the relation of the low hills to the 
Central Range, north and south of Ajalon, illustrates two 
important historical phenomena. First, it explains some 
of the difference between the histories of Samaria and 
Judah. While the low hills opposite Samaria are really 

1 This is also true of the only other application of the name west of the 
Jordan, which I have suggested in n. 3 on the previous page. The low 
hills between Carmel and Dothan are flung off the Central Range in the same 
way as *he Shephelah proper is. 



The Shepkelah 205 



only approaches, slopes and terraces of access to Samaria's 
centre, the southern low hills — those opposite Judah — 
offer no furtherance at all towards this more 

Consequent 

isolated province : to have conquered them difference 

, r • a 1 between 

IS not to have got footing Upon it. And Samaria and 

secondly, this division between the Shephelah 
and Judah explains why the Shephelah has so much more 
interest and importance in history than the northern low 
hills, which are not so divided from Samaria. It is inde- 
pendent as they are not ; and debatable as they cannot 
be. They are merged in Samaria. The Shephelah has a 
history of its own, for while they cannot be held by them- 
selves, it can be, and was, so held at frequent famous 
periods of war and invasion. 

This division between the Shephelah and Judaea is of 
such importance in the history of the land that it will be 
useful for us to follow it in detail. 

As we ride across the Maritime Plain from Jaffa towards 
the Vale of Ajalon by the main road to Jerusalem, we 
become aware, as the road bends south, of get- The division 
ting behind low hills, which gradually shut out ghe^phdah 16 
the view of the coast. These are spurs of the and Judaea. 
Shephelah : we are at the back of it, and in front of us are 
the high hills of the Central Range, with the wide gulf in 
them of the Vale of Ajalon. Near the so-called half-way 
house, the road to Jerusalem enters a steep and narrow 
defile, the Wady Ali, which is the real entrance to the 
Central Range, for at its upper end we come out among 
peaks over 2000 feet high. But if, instead of entering this 
steep defile, we turn to the south, crossing a broad low 
watershed, we shall find ourselves in the Wady el Ghurab, 
a valley running south-west, with hills to the east of us 



2o6 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



touching 2000 feet, and hills to the west seldom above 
800. The Wady el Ghurab brings us out upon the broad 
Wady es Surar, the Vale of Sorek, crossing which we find 
the mouth of the Wady en Najil, 1 and ride still south 
along its straight narrow bed. Here again the mountains 
to the east of us are over 2000 feet, cleft by narrow and 
tortuous defiles, difficult ascents to the Judaean plateau 
above, while to the west the hills of the Shephelah seldom 
reach 1000 feet, and the valleys among them are broad 
and easy. They might stand — especially if we remember 
that they have respectively Jerusalem and Philistia behind 
them — for the narrow and broad ways of our Lord's 
parable. From the end of Wady en Najil the passage is 
immediate to the Vale of Elah, the Wady es Sunt, at the 
spot where David slew Goliath, and from there the broad 
Wady es Sur runs south, separating by two or three miles 
the lofty and compact range of Judaea on the east from 
the lower, looser hills of the Shephelah on the west. The 
Wady es Sur terminates opposite Hebron : 2 and here the 
dividing hollow turns south-west, and runs between peaks 
of nearly 3000 feet high to the east, and almost nothing 
above 1500 to the west, into the Wady esh Sheria, which 
finds the sea south of Gaza, and may be regarded as the 
southern boundary of the Shephelah. I have ridden 
nearly every mile of this great fosse that has been planted 
along the ramparts of Judaea, and have described from my 
own observations the striking difference of its two sides. 
All down the east, let me repeat, runs that close and lofty 
barrier of the Central Range, penetrated only by difficult 
defiles, 3 its edge turreted here and there by a town, giving 

1 All g's are soft in the modern Arabic of Palestine ; gh is like the French 
gr in grasseyi. i Near Terkumieh. $ Seech, xii., sec 3. 



The Shephelah 



207 



proof of a table-land behind ; but all down the west the 
low scattered ranges and clusters of the Shephelah, with 
their shallow dales and softer brows, much open ground 
and wide passes to the sea. Riding along the fosse 
between, I understood why the Shephelah was always 
debatable land, open equally to Israelite and Philistine, 
and why the Philistine, who so easily overran the Shephe- 
lah, seldom got farther than its eastern border, on which 
many of his encounters with Israel took place. 1 

From this definition of its boundaries — so necessary to 
our appreciation of its independence alike of plain and 
of mountain — let us turn to a survey of the Shephelah 
itself. 

The mountains look on the Shephelah, and the She- 
phelah looks on the sea, — across the Philistine Plain. It 
curves round this plain from Gaza to Jaffa like 

r . General 

an amphitheatre. 2 But the amphitheatre is cut aspect of the 

Shephelah. 

by three or four great gaps, wide valleys that 
come right through from the foot of the Judaean hills to 
the sea. Between these gaps the low hills gather in 
clumps and in short ranges from 500 to 800 feet high, with 
one or two summits up to 1500. The formation is of 
limestone or chalk, and very soft — therefore irregular and 

1 The geology of this district has not yet been accurately studied ; but the 
distinction between the Central Range and the Shephelah seems to be coinci- 
dent with the border between the Nummulite limestone on the west and 
the cretaceous on the east. Cf. also Hull on p. 63 of the Geological Memoir 
of the P.E.F. : 'The calcareous sandstone of Philistia,' as Hull designates it, 
is ' the key to the physical features of this part of Palestine, and accounts for 
the abrupt fall of the table-land of Central Palestine along the borders of 
Philistia, and along a line extending to the base of Mount Carmel ; as the 
harder limestones dip under and pass below the comparatively softer forma- 
tion of which we are now speaking, and which has been more deeply 
denuded than the former.' See also p. 64. 

2 Trelawney Saunders, Introduction, p. 249. 



2o8 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



almost featureless, with a few prominent outposts upon the 
plain. In the cross valleys there are perennial, or almost 
perennial, streams, with broad pebbly beds ; the soil is 
alluvial and red, with great corn-fields. But on the slopes 
and glens of each hilly maze between the cross valleys the 
soil is a grey white ; there are no perennial streams, and 
few springs, but many reservoirs of rain-water. The corn- 
fields straggle for want of level space, yet the olive-groves 
are finer than on either the plain below or the range above. 
Inhabited villages are frequent ; the ruins of abandoned 
ones more so. But the prevailing scenery of the region is 
of short, steep hillsides and narrow glens, with a very few 
great trees, and thickly covered by brushwood and oak- 
scrub — crags and scalps of limestone breaking through, 
and a rough grey torrent-bed at the bottom of each glen. 
In the more open passes of the south, the straight line of 
a Roman road dominates the brushwood, or you will see 
the levelled walls of an early Christian convent, and 
perhaps the solitary gable of a Crusaders' church. In the 
rocks there are older monuments — large wine and oil 
presses cut on level platforms above ridges that may 
formerly have been vineyards ; and once or twice on a 
braeside a huge boulder has well-worn steps up it, and on 
its top little cuplike hollows, evidently an ancient altar. 
Caves, of course, abound — near the villages, gaping black 
dens for men and cattle, but up the unfrequented glens 
they are hidden by hanging bush, behind which you 
disturb only the wild pigeon. Bees murmur everywhere, 
larks are singing ; and although in the maze of hills you 
may wander for hours without meeting a man, or seeing 
a house, you are seldom out of sound of the human voice, 
shepherds and ploughmen calling to their cattle and to 



The Shephelah 



each other across the glens. Higher up you rise to moor- 
land, with rich grass if there is a spring, but otherwise, 
heath, thorns, and rough herbs that scent the wind. Bees 
abound here, too, and dragon-flies, kites and crows ; 
sometimes an eagle floats over from the cliffs of Judaea. 
The sun beats strong, but you see and feel the sea ; the 
high mountains are behind, at night they breathe upon 
these lower ridges gentle breezes, and the dews are very 
heavy. 

Altogether it is a rough, happy land, with its glens and 
moors, its mingled brushwood and barley-fields ; frequently 
under cultivation, but for the most part broken and thirsty, 
with few wells and many hiding-places ; just the home for 
strong border-men like Samson, and just the theatre for 
that guerilla warfare, varied occasionally by pitched battles, 
which Israel and Philistia, the Maccabees and the Syrians, 
Saladin and Richard waged with each other. 

The chief encounters of these foes naturally took place 
in the wide valleys, which cut right through the Shephelah 
maze. The strategic importance of these 

fa r The Valleys 

valleys can hardly be overrated, for they do of the 

Shephelah. 

not belong to the Shephelah alone. Each of 
them is continued by a defile into the very heart of Judaea, 
not far from an important city, and each of them has at 
its other end, on the coast, one of the five cities of the 
Philistines. To realise these valleys is to understand the 
wars that have been fought on the western watershed of 
Palestine from Joshua's time to Saladin's. 

i. Take the most northerly of these valleys. The 
narrow plain, across which the present road to Jerusalem 
runs, brings you up from Lydda, to opposite the high 
Valley of Ajalon. The Valley of Ajalon, which is really 

o 



2io The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



part of the Shephelah, 1 is a broad fertile plain gently 
sloping up to the foot of the Central Range, the steep 
wall of which seems to forbid further passage 

Ajalon. r & * 

But three gorges break through, and, with 
sloping ridges between them run up past the two Beth- 
horons on to the plateau at Gibeon, a few flat miles north 
of Jerusalem. 2 This has always been the easiest passage 
in the Old ^ rom tne coast to the capital of Judaea — the 
Testament. mos t natural channel for the overflow of Israel 
westwards. In the first settlement of the land, it was down 
Ajalon that Dan pushed and touched for a time the sea ; 3 
after the exile, it was down Ajalon that the returned Jews 
cautiously felt their way, and fixed their westmost colonies 
at its mouth on the edge of the plain. 4 Throughout 
history we see hosts swarming up this avenue, or swept 
down it in flight. At the high head of it invading Israel 
first emerged from the Jordan Valley, and looked over the 
Shephelah towards the Great Sea. Joshua drove the 
Canaanites down to Makkedah in the Shephelah on that 
day when such long work had to be done that he bade the 

1 Thus the towns of Ajalon and Gimzo were in the Shephelah (2 Chron. 
xxviii. 18), and we have seen, according to the Talmud, the Shephelah 
extended from Emmaus to Lydda. 

2 The three roads from the Vale of Ajalon to Jerusalem are these : (1) On 
one of the sloping ridges between the gorges, you rise rapidly from the W. 
Selman 818 feet, byBeit-Likia 1600, Beit-Anon 2070, el Kubeibeh 2570, and 
so along the ridge by Biddu and Beit-Ikra 2525, across W. Beit-Hanina to 
Kh. el Bedr 2519, and thence to Jerusalem. (2) Or you may follow the W. es 
Selman itself from 818 feet to 1 157, 1610, 1840, till it brings you out at its head 
on the plateau of El-Jib 2400 feet, about five miles north of Jerusalem. (3) Or 
you may take the more famous Beth-horon road, which rises from Beit-Sira 
840 feet on a spur to the lower Beth-horon 1240 feet, and thence traverses a 
ridge with the gorges of W. Selman to the south, and W. es Sunt and W. el 
Imeish to the north, to the upper Beth-horon (1730), and still following tht 
ridge, comes out on the plateau of El-Jib a little to the north of No. 2. 

* Chapter iii. 

* Lydda, Ono, Hadid on the Ge-Haharaahim, pp. 160 ft 



The Shephelah 2 1 1 



sun stand still for its accomplishment ; 1 down Ajalon the 
early men of Ephraim and Benjamin raided the Philis- 
tines ; 2 up Ajalon the Philistines swarmed to the very 
heart of Israel's territory at Michmash, disarmed the 
Israelites, and forced them to come down the Vale to get 
their tools sharpened, so that the mouth of the Vale was 
called the Valley of the Smiths even till after the exile ; 3 
down Ajalon Saul and Jonathan beat the Philistines from 
Michmash, 4 and by the same way, soon after his accession, 
King David smote the Philistines — who had come up about 
Jerusalem either by this route or the gorges leading from 
the Vale of Sorek — from Gibeon until thou come to Gezer? 
that looks right up Ajalon. Ages later this rout found a 
singular counterpart. In 66 A.D. a Roman army under 
Cestius Gallus came up from Antipatris — on the 'Aujeh — 
by way of Ajalon. When they entered the gorges of the 
Central Range, they suffered from the sudden attacks of 
the Jews ; and, although they actually set Jerusalem on fire 
and occupied part of it, they suddenly retreated by the 
way they had come. The Jews pursued, and, as far as 
Antipatris itself, smote them in thousands, as David had 
smitten the Philistines. 6 It may have been be- With the 
cause of this that Titus, when he came up to Romans - 
punish the Jews two years later, avoided Ajalon and the 
gorges at its head, and took the higher and less covered 
road by Gophna to Gibeah. 7 

The Vale of Ajalon was also overrun by the Egyptian 

1 Joshua x. 10. Makkedah is identified by Warren as el-Mughar to the 
south of Ekron, but this is very doubtful. 

2 I Chron. vii. 21 ; viii. 13. 

* 1 Sam. xiii. 19. See p. 160 for the origin of the name, Ge-Haharashim. 

* I Sam. xiii., xiv. ; ap. xiv. 31. 6 2 Sam. v. 25 ; I Chron. xiv. 16 
6 Tosephus. ii. Wars, xix. 7 v. Wars, ii. 



212 The Historical Geography of the Holy T^and 



invasions of Palestine. Egypt long held Gezer at the 
mouth of it, and Shishak's campaign included the capture 
of Beth-horon, Ajalon, Makkedah, and Jehudah, near 
Joppa. 1 

But it was in the time of the Maccabean wars and in the 
time of the Crusades that this part of the Shephelah was 
most famously contested. 

We have already seen that the Plain of Ajalon, with its 
mouth turned slightly northwards, lay open to the roads 
down the Maritime Plain from Carmel. It was, therefore, 
the natural entrance into Judaea for the Syrian armies who 
came south by the coast ; and Modein, the home of the 
With the Maccabees, and the origin of the revolt against 

Maccabees. 5^ Hes Qn thg edg£ of A j a ] on by the very 

path the invaders took. 2 Just as at Lydda, in this same 
district, the revolt afterwards broke out against the 
Romans in 66 A.D., so now in 166 B.C. it broke out against 
the Hellenising Syrians. 3 The first camps, both Jewish 
and Syrian, were pitched about Emmaus, not far off the 
present high road to Jerusalem. 4 The battles rolled— for 

1 On Gezer, I Kings ix. 15-17. On 'Shishak's Campaign:' Maspero in 
Transactions of Victorian Institute ; W. Max Miiller, Asien u. Eur. nach. 
altdgypt. Denkm.> i66f. The town of Ajalon is mentioned, in the Tell-el- 
Amarna Tablets, as one of the first to be taken from the Egyptian vassals. 

2 1 Mace. ii. I, 15, 23, 70; xiii. 25, 30; xvi. 4; 2 Mace. xiii. 4, Miodelv 
or MuSeeb. Variants, N.u8eelfi, I Mace. ii. 23 ; ix. 19; xiii. 25, 30; Mw5aet/i, 
xvi. 4 ; NcaSielfi, 2 Mace. xiii. 14. In Josephus, Mudeel/a or Mcodeei', xii. Antt. 
vi. 1, xi. 2; xiii. Antt. vi. 5; Mco3ee£j>, i. Wars i. 3. Ofiomast. Euseb. 
M-qdeei/uL, Jerome, Modeim. Evidently a plural word, now in the Hebrew 
form, now in the Aramaic. So Talmud, Modi'im D^TlD : but also Modi'ith 
D^HID (Neubauer, Geog. Ta/m., § 99). Either of these would give the pre- 
sent Medieh or Midieh, a village seven miles ESE. of Lydda (Neubauer), which 
suits Eusebius' statement that Medieh was near Lydda, and I Mace. xiii. 29, 
that the monument of the Maccabees could be seen from the sea. Forner had 
also proposed Medieh, Le Monde, 1866 (Guerin). Robinson takes Latrun, 
and in Judee, i. 311, Guerin inclines to this. 

3 I Mace. ii. 4 Ibid. iii. 



The Shephelah 213 



the battles in the Shephelah were always rolling battles 
— between Beth-horon and Gezer, and twice the pursuit 
of the Syrians extended across the last ridges of the 
Shephelah to Jamnia and Ashdod. 1 Jonathan swept 
right down to Joppa and won it. 2 But the tide sometimes 
turned, and the Syrians mastering the Shephelah fortresses, 
swept up Ajalon to the walls of Jerusalem ; 3 though they 
preferred on occasions to turn the flank of the Jews by 
coming through Samaria, 4 or gaining the Judsean table- 
land at Bethsura by one of the southern defiles. 5 

Now, up and down this great channel thirteen centuries 
later the fortune of war ebbed and flowed in an almost 
precisely similar fashion. Like the Syrians — In the 
and, indeed, from the same centre of Antioch Crusades. 
■ — the Crusaders took their way to Jerusalem by Tyre, 
Acre, and Joppa, and there turned up through the She- 
phelah and the Vale of Ajalon. The First Crusaders 
found no opposition ; two days sufficed for their march 
from Ramleh, by Beth-horon, to the Holy City. Through 
the Third Crusade, however, Saladin firmly held the 
Central Range, and though parties of Christians swept up 
within sight of Jerusalem, their camps never advanced 
beyond Ajalon. But all the Shephelah rang with the 
exploits of Richard. Fighting his way, as we have seen, 
from Carmel along the foot of the low hills, with an 
enemy perpetually assailing his flank, Richard established 
himself at Joppa, opposite the mouth of Ajalon. Thence 

1 I Mace, iii., iv., vii., ix. 3 Ibid. x. 75, 76. 

3 In Judas' lifetime, but when he was absent the Jews were pursued ' to 
the borders of Judaea,' Ibid. v. 57-61. And again in the campaign in which 
Judas was slain, Ibid. ix. ; and the battle between Jonathan and Bacchides, 
when the latter took Emmaus and Gezer, Ibid. ix. 50, 52. 

4 Probably the line of Bacchides' advance, Ibid. ix. I -4. 

5 Ibid. iv. 29, vi. 31, 49, 50, ix. 52, etc. 



2 t 4 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



he pushed gradually inland, planting forts or castles — on 
the plain, Plans and Maen ; on the edge of the Shephelah, 
Mirabel and Montgisard ; and up the Vale of 



and Emmaus (now Amwas) on the other side of the present 
road to Jerusalem — till he reached Betenoble, far up the 
vale, and near the foot of the Central Range. 1 But Richard 
did not confine his tactics to the Vale of Ajalon. Like 
the Syrians, when he found this blocked, he turned south- 
wards, and made a diversion upon the Judsean table-land, 
up one of the parallel valleys of the Shephelah, and then, 
when that failed, returned suddenly to Betenoble. 2 All 

1 The sites of most of these Crusading strongholds are uncertain. Both 
Plans and Maen lay east of Joppa, but not east of Ramleh (Vinsauf, Itiner. 
Ricard. iv. 29). So Maen cannot be El-Burj or Deir Ma'in (Guerin, Jud. 
i. 337), and of Conder's two suggestions {Syr. Stone Lore, 398) the second is 
the correct one. Plans has not been found. — The only difficulty in accepting 
Conder's identification of Mirabel with the present El-Mirr, near Ras-el-Ain, 
north-east of Joppa, is that the latter is on the plain, whereas Vinsauf says the 
Turks whom Richard scattered fled to Mirabel, that is, if El-Mirr be Mirabel, 
north-west and towards the plains which the Christians held. — On Montgisard 
(Rey), or Mont Gisart (CI. Ganneau), see pp. 215-218. — Chateau d'Arnauld ii 
described by William of Tyre as 1 in descensu montium, in primis auspiciis cam- 
pestrium, via qui itur Liddam. ' The site is uncertain — El-Burg (De Saulcy), 
Kharubeh (Guerin). — Latrun derived by mediaevals from Latro, and supposed 
to be the den Boni Latronis of the Good Thief, Dimna (Quaresm. Eluc. Terr. 
Sand. ii. 12) is really El-Atrun. This may be from either (1) old French 
touron or turon, an isolated hill, for in 1 244 Latrun was called Turo Militum 
(Rey, Colon. Franques, 300, 413), and Turon might easily become, according 
to a well-known law in the Arab adoption of foreign words, Atron, like Ufa 
from tafa ; or (2) Arabic Natrun, post of observation, with article En-Natrun, 
that might as easily become El-Latrun, or the present Arabic El-Atrun. Cf. 
Noldeke, Z.D.P. V. vii. 141. — Betenoble : 1 Near the foot of the mountains,' 
Vinsauf, iv. 34. Betenoble is philologically liker Beit Nabala, on the edge 
of the Maritime Plain, four miles north-east of Lydda, than Beit Nuba, which 
is at the other end of the Vale of Ajalon, near Yalo. But other references 
in Vinsauf, though not conclusive (v. 49, vi. 9), imply that it was well inland 
from Ramleh. J Vinsauf, v. 46-48. 



Richard I. 
and the 
Shephelah. 



Ajalon, the Chateau d'Arnauld, perhaps the pre- 
sent El-Burj ; Turon (now Latrun) on one side, 



The Shephelah 215 



this cost him from August 1 191 to June 1192. He was 
then within twelve miles of Jerusalem as the crow flies, 
and on a raid he actually saw the secluded city, but he 
retired. His funds were exhausted, and his followers 
quarrelsome. He feared, too, the summer drought of 
Jerusalem, which had compelled Cestius Gallus to with- 
draw in the moment of victory. But, above all, Richard's 
retreat from the foot of the Central Range illustrates what 
I have already emphasised, that to have taken the She- 
phelah was really to be no nearer Judaea. The baffled 
Crusaders fell back through their castles in the Shephelah 
to the coast. Saladin moved after them, occupying Mont 
Gisart, and taking Joppa ; and though Richard relieved 
the latter, and the coast remained with the Crusaders for 
the next seventy years, the Shephelah, with its European 
castles and cloisters, passed wholly from Christian pos- 
session. 

We have won a much more vivid imagination of the 
far-off campaigns of Joshua and David by following the 
marches of Judas Maccabeus, the rout of the Roman 
legions, and the advance and retreat of Richard Lionheart 
— the last especially described with so much detail. The 
natural lines, which all those armies had to follow, remained 
throughout the centuries the same : the same were the 
difficulties of climate, forage and locomotion ; so that the 
best commentaries on many chapters of the Old Testament 
are the Books of the Maccabees, the Annals of Josephus, 
and the Chronicles of the Crusades. History never repeats 
itself without explaining its past. 

One point in the Northern Shephelah, round which these 
tides of war have swept, deserves special notice — Gezer, or 
Gazar. It is one of the few remarkable bastions which the 



2i6 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Shephelah flings out to the west—on a ridge running 
towards Ramleh, the most prominent object in view of the 
Gezer traveller from Jaffa towards Jerusalem. It is 
MontGisart. high anc j isolated, but fertile and well watered 
— a very strong post and striking landmark. Its name 
occurs in the Egyptian correspondence of the fourteenth 
century, where it is described as being taken from the 
Egyptian vassals by the tribes whose invasion so agitates 
that correspondence. 1 A city of the Canaanites, under a 
king of its own — Horam — Gezer is not given as one of 
Joshua's conquests, though the king is ; 2 but the Israelites 
drave not out the Canaanites who dwelt at Gezer* and in the 
hands of these it remained till its conquest by Egypt 
when Pharaoh gave it, with his daughter, to Solomon, 
and Solomon rebuilt it. 4 Judas Maccabeus was strategist 
enough to gird himself early to the capture of Gezer, and 
Simon fortified it to cover the way to the harbour of 
Joppa, and caused John, his son, the captain of the host, 
to dwell there. 6 It was virtually, therefore, the key of 
Judaea at a time when Judaea's foes came down the coast 
from the north ; and, with Joppa, it formed part of the 
Syrian demands upon the Jews. 6 But this is by no means 
the last of it. M. Clermont Ganneau, who a number of 
years ago discovered the site, 7 has lately identified Gezer 

1 See 2 R.P. 74, 78 ; Conder's Tdl-tl- Amarna Tablets, 122, 134-138, 147. 
Conder, as has been said already, holds that these invaders are the Hebrews. 
But this is not proved. On the Amarna tablets Gezer appears as Gazri ; in 
the Egyptian inscriptions as Kadiru. 

3 Josh. x. 33. 3 Josh. xvi. 3, 10 ; Judges i. 19. 

4 1 Kings ix. 15-17. See W. Max Miiller, op. cit. 160, 390. 

6 1 Mace. xiii. 43 (where Gaza should read Gazara, cf. Josephus xiii. Antt. 
vi. 7 ; i. Wars ii. 2) and 53. 6 1 Mace. xv. 28. 

7 By finding upon it two stones, evidently dated from the time of the 
Maccabees, P.E.F.Q., \Sj 5. 



The Shephelah 217 



with the Mont Gisart of the Crusades. 1 Mont Gisart was 
a castle and fief in the county of Joppa, with an abbey of 
St. Katharine of Mont Gisart, ' whose prior was one of the 
five suffragans of the Bishop of Lydda.' It was the scene, 
on 24th November 1174, seventeen years before the Third 
Crusade, of a victory won by a small army from Jerusalem 
under the boy-king, the leper Baldwin IV., against a very 
much larger army under Saladin himself, and, in 1192, 
Saladin encamped upon it during his negotiations for a 
truce with Richard. 2 

Shade of King Horam, what hosts of men have fallen 
round that citadel of yours ! On what camps and columns 
has it looked down through the centuries, since first you 
saw the strange Hebrews burst with the sunrise across the 
hills, and chase your countrymen down Ajalon — that day 
when the victors felt the very sun conspiring with them to 
achieve the unexampled length of battle. Within sight of 
every Egyptian and every Assyrian invasion of the land, 
Gezer has also seen Alexander pass by, and the legions 
of Rome in unusual flight, and the armies of the Cross 
struggle, waver and give way, and Napoleon come and 
go. If all could rise who have fallen around its base — 
Ethiopians, Hebrews, Assyrians, Arabs, Turcomans, Greeks, 
Romans, Celts, Saxons, Mongols — what a rehearsal of the 
Judgment Day it would be ! Few of the travellers who 
now rush across the plain realise that the first conspicuous 
hill they pass in Palestine is also one of the most thickly 
haunted — even in that narrow land into which history has 
so crowded itself. But upon the ridge of Gezer no sign of 
all this now remains, except in the name Tell Jezer, and 
in a sweet hollow to the north, beside a fountain, where lie 

1 Recueil d> Archiol. Orient., Paris, 1888, pp. 351-92. 3 Mid. p. 359. 



218 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



the scattered Christian stones of Deir Warda, the Convent 
of the Rose. 

Up none of the other valleys of the Shephelah has 
history surged as up and down Ajalon and past Gezer, for 
none are so open to the north, nor present so easy a 
passage to Jerusalem. 

2. The next Shephelah valley, however, the Wady es 
Surar, or Vale of Sorek, has an importance of its own, and 
The Vale remarkably enough, is to be the future road 
of Sorek. ^0 Jerusalem. The new railway from Jaffa, 
instead of being carried up Ajalon, turns south at Ramleh 
by the pass through the low sandhills to Ekron, and thence 
runs up the Wady es Surar and its continuing defile 
through the Judsean range on to that plain south-west of 
Jerusalem, which probably represents the ancient Vale oi 
Rephaim. It is the way the Philistines used to come 
up in the days of the Judges and of David ; there is no 
shorter road into Judaea from Ekron, Jamnia, and perhaps 
Ashdod. 1 Askalon would be better reached — as it was 
by the Crusaders when they held Jerusalem — by way of 
the Wady es Sunt and Tell-es-Safiyeh. 

Just before the Wady es Surar approaches the Judaean 
range, its width is increased by the entrance of the Wady 
Ghurab from the north-west, and by the Wady en Najil 
from the south. A great basin is thus formed with the low 
hill of Artuf, and its village in the centre. Sura', the ancient 
Zorah, and Eshua', 2 perhaps Eshtaol, lie on the slopes to 

1 By the Wady es Surar Jerusalem is some twenty-eight miles from Ekron, 
thirty-two from Jamnia, thirty-eight from Ashdod, forty-five from Askalon. 

3 Sura 'a \s.j*a is without doubt the Hebrew nyiV. It is noo feet above 

the sea, say 8oo above the valley. Eshua' <^jt> \ is ^ ar m sound from Eshta'ol 

but the shrinkage in the name is possible, and the village lies neai 



The Shephelah 



219 



the north ; Ain Shems, in all probability Beth-shemesh, lies 
on the southern slope opposite Zorah. When you see this 
basin, you at once perceive its importance. Fertile and 
well-watered — a broad brook runs through it, with tribu- 
tary streamlets — it lies immediately under the Judaean 
range, and at the head of a valley passing down toPhilistia, 
while at right angles to this it is crossed by the great line 
of trench, which separates the Shephelah from Judaea. 
Roads diverge from it in all directions. Two ascend the 
Judaean plateau by narrow defiles from the Wady en Najil, 
another and greater defile, still under the name Wady es 
Surar, runs up east to the plateau next Jerusalem, and 
others north-east into the rough hills known to the Old 
Testament as Mount Jearim, while the road from Beit- 
Jibrin comes down the Wady en Najil, and continues by a 
broad and easy pass to Amwas and the Vale of Ajalon. 
As a centre, then, between the southern and northern 
valleys of the Shephelah, and between Judaea and Philistia, 
this basin was sure to become important. Immediately 
under the central range it was generally held by Israel, 
vvho could swiftly pour down upon it by five or six different 
defiles. 1 It was also open to Philistia, and had easy 

Sura'a. Guerin says he heard at Beit Atab ' an old tradition ' that Eshua' was 
originally Eshu'al or Eshthu'al. This is interesting, and deserves confirma- 
tion, — ii possible. Kh. Surik seems an echo of the ancient Sorek. 

1 Of the two roads to the south of the main defile the more southerly leaves 
Ain Shems, crosses the Wady en Najil, enters a defile to the south of Deir 
Aban, and reaches the plateau at Beit Atab, 2052 ft : thence over the stony 
moorland to El-Khudr, on the Jerusalem-Hebron road : a bare road, with no 
obstacles after you are out of the defile, it may be shortened by cutting across 
to Bittir. The other road is almost parallel to this one ; it rises to the 
plateau at Deir el Hawa, crosses to Er Ras, and so by Milhah to Jerusalem. 
The road up the main defile follows it till Khurbet El Loz is reached, then 
leaves it and crosses to the Jerusalem-Jaffa road. Another road crosses from 
Zorah to the foot of Mount Jearim, and traverses this to Soba, and another 
follows the Wady el Ghurab to, like t^* last, the Jerusalem high road. 



2 20 • The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



passage to the Vale of Ajalon, whose towns are often 
classed with its own. 1 

On the northern bank of this basin the homeless tribe 
of Dan found a temporary settlement. The territory, 
The Camp which the Book of Joshua assigns to Dan, 2 lies 
of Dan. down the two parallel valleys that lead through 
the Shephelah to the sea, Ajalon and Sorek, and the Song 
of Deborah seems to imply that they reached the coast, — 
why did Dan abide in ships f 3 But either Deborah speaks 
in scorn of futile ambitions westward, which were stirred 
in Dan by the sight of the sea from the Shephelah, and Dan 
never reached the sea at ail ; or else the tribe had been 
driven back from the coast, for now they lay poised on the 
broad pass between their designated valleys, retaining only 
two of their proper towns, Zorah and Eshtaol. It was a 
position close under the eaves of Israel's mountain home, 
vet open to attacks from the plain. They found it so in- 
tolerable that they moved north, even to the sources of the 
Jordan ; but not without stamping their name on the place 
they left, in a form which showed how temporary their hold 
of it had been. It was called the Camp of Dan. Here, in 
Zorah, either before or after the migration, their great 
tribal hero, Samson, was born. 4 

1 Zorah and Ajalon are also coupled in one of the Tell-el-Amarna Letters, 
137, in the Berlin collection ; Conder, Tell-el-Amarna Tablets, 156. Josh, 
xix. 40-48 : the towns assigned to Dan. 2 Chron. xi. 10, Zorah and Ajalen, 
fortified by Rehoboam. 2 Josh. xix. 40-48. 

3 Judges v. 17. But see Budde's reading of this, Richt. Sam., p. 16, n. 2. 

4 In Judges the camp of Dan is twice mentioned, in the life of Samson, 
which forms part of the body of the Book, where it is placed between Zorah 
and Eshtaol, xiii. 25 ; and in the account of the Danite migration, which 
forms one of some appendages to the Book, where it is said to have been the 
muster-place of the soldiers of Dan when they came up from Zorah and 
Eshtaol, and to have lain in Kiriath Jearim in Judah, xviii. 12, 13 ; and a 
clause adds, lo, it is behind, i.e. west of, Kiriath Jearim. Now the same 



The Shephelah 



221 



It is as fair a nursery for boyhood as you will find in all 
the land — a hillside facing south against the sunshine, with 
corn, grass, and olives, scattered boulders and winter 
brooks, the broad valley below with the pebbly stream and 
screens of oleanders, the south-west wind from the sea 
blowing over all. There the child Samson grew up ; and the 
Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to move him 
in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol. 

Sara son. 

Across the Valley of Sorek, in full view, is 
Beth-shemesh, now ( Ain Shems, House and Well of the 
the Sun, with which name it is so natural to connect his 
own — Shimshon, ' Sun-like.' Over the low hills beyond is 
Timnah, where he found his first love and killed the young 
lion. 1 Beyond is the Philistine Plain, with its miles upon 
miles of corn, which, if as closely sown then as now, would 
require scarce three, let alone three hundred foxes, with 
torches on their tails, to set it all afire. The Philistine 
cities are but a day's march away, by easy roads. And so 
from these country braes to yonder plains and the highway 

place could not have lain between Zorah and Eshtaol, and away from both in 
Kiriath Jearim. We have evidently, therefore, two different narratives, and 
in fact they are distinguished by critics on other, textual, grounds, (Budde, 
Richt. Sam., assigns the former to the Jahvist, the latter to the Elohist, 138 ff. ) 
In this case the clause on xviii. 12, it is west of Kiriath Jearim, is probably 
a gloss added to modify what precedes it, and bring it into harmony witt 
xiii. 25, for the locality between Zorah and Eshtaol may be described as lying 
west of Kiriath Jearim, and that, whether the latter be the present Kuriet 
Einab or Khurbet 'Erma. Again, since xviii, 1 1- 13 is part of the appendix to 
the Book of Judges, and therefore is not in chronological sequence from the 
earlier chapters, it is difficult to say whether Dan's migration came before or 
after the events of Samson's life. If before, then some Danite families had 
stayed behind in Zorah and Eshtaol, which is very likely, and the theory 
becomes possible, though not pi'obable, that the name Camp of Dan, being 
given, as described in xviii. 13, to a particular spot in Kiriath Jearim, had 
gradually extended to the whole district, which the temporary settlement oi 
Dan had covered. The one thing certain is, that we have two documents. 
1 See pp. 79 f. 



222 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



of the great world — from the pure home and the mother 
who talked with angels, to the heathen cities, their harlots 
and their prisons — we see at one sweep of the eye all the 
course in which this uncurbed strength, at first tumbling 
and sporting with laughter like one of its native brooks, 
like them also ran to the flats and the mud, and, being 
darkened and befouled, was used by men to turn their 
mills. 1 

The theory that the story of Samson is a mere sun-myth, 
edited for the sacred record by an orthodox Jew, has never 
received acceptance from the leading critics, who have all 
been convinced that though containing elements of popular 
legend, its hero was an actual personage. Those who 
study the story of Samson along with its geography must 

1 The other scenes of Samson's life have not been yet satisfactorily identified. 
For the rock 'Etam and its cleft Conder proposes (so also Henderson, Pal., 
p. 109) a peculiar cave at Beit 'Atab {b and m being interchangeable) on the 
Judaean plateau. But the cave at Beit 'Atab (I have visited the place) is too large 
to be described as a cleft, and if 'Etam had been so high up the narrative would 
not have said (Judges xv. 8) that Samson went down to it. Coming up from 
Zorah to Beit 'Atab on a summer day, one feels that strongly. Schick, Z.D.P. V. 
x. 143, proposes more plausibly (Guthe thinks correctly) the Arak Isma'in 
a cave in a rock on the north of Wady Isma'in. Lehi he finds, in Khurbet es 

Siyyagh (^L)^! in the Name Lists, P.E.F. Mem.), ruins at mouth of 

W. en Najil. Aquila and Symmachus, and Jos. (v. Antt. ix. 8, 9) translate 
Lehi Iiiayuv, and Schick reports E. of Siyyagh an 'Ain Nakura. But Siyyagh 
could have come from Siagon only through Greeks and Christians, and is 
therefore a late and valueless tradition. Conder suggests for Ramath-Lehi 
and En-hakkore, the 'Ayun Abu Meharib, 'founts of the place of battles/ 
sometimes called 'Ayun Kara, ' founts of a crier,' near Kesla, where there is 
a chapel dedicated to Sheikh Nedhir, ' the Nazarite chief,' and a ruin with 
the name Ism Allah, which he suggests is a corruption of Esm'a Allah, 
' God heard.' This is interesting, but also inconclusive. See Hend., Pal. 
no, who suggests the serrated appearance of W. Ismain as originating the 
name Lehi : Hashen, the tooth, occurs up it. Guerin heard the Weli Sh. 
Gharib called by the name Kabr Shamshun, but this may be a very recen* 
legend. He puts these scenes at 'Ain el Lehi, north-west of Bethlehem 
[Jud. ii. 317 ff., 396 ff.). Buhl (p. 91) counts Schick's identifications uncertain. 



The Shephelah 



223 



feel that the story has at least a basis of reality. Unlike 
the exploits of the personifications of the Solar Fire in 
Aryan and Semitic mythologies, those of Samson are con- 
fined to a very limited region. The attempts to interpret 
them as phases or influences of the sun, or to force them 
into a cycle like the labours of Hercules, have broken down. 1 
To me it seems just as easy and just as futile to read the 
story of this turbulent strength as the myth of a mountain- 
stream, at first exuberant and sporting with its powers, but 
when it has left its native hills, mastered and darkened by 
men, and yet afterwards bursting its confinement and 
taking its revenge upon them. For it is rivers, and not 
sunbeams, that work mills and overthrow temples. But 
the idea of finding any nature-myth in such a story is far- 
fetched. As Hitzig emphasises, it is not a nature-force 
but a character with whom we have to deal here, and, above 
all, the religious element in the story, so far from being a 
later flavour imparted to, the original material, is the very 
life of the whole. 2 

The head of the Vale of Sorek has usually been regarded 
as the scene of the battle in which the Philistines took the 
ark. 3 The place, as we have seen, was convenient both to 
Israel and Philistia, and it has been argued that in after- 
wards bringing back the ark to Beth-shemesh, 4 the Philis- 
tines were seeking to make their atonement exact by 

1 Goldziher, Hebrew Mythology. E. Wietzke, Der Biblische Simson der 
JEgyptische Horus Ra : Wittenberg, 1888. The etymologies of this work 
arc an instance of the length that men will go when hunting for myths. 

2 This point is well put by Orelli, Herzog's Real-Encycl. Cf. Hitzig, 
Ewald, Stade, Kittel, in their histories of Israel. All deny the myth, admit 
legend, and allow that the hero was historical. Budde, Richt. Sam. 133, 
holds to Kuenen's position that the narrator knew nothing of a myth, but 
says ' the legendary nature of the narratives is selbst verstdndlich. > 

8 I Samuel iv. 4 1 Samuel vii. 



224 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



restoring their booty at the spot where they had cap- 
tured it ; and that the stone on which they rested the Ark 
may have been the Eben-ezer, or Stone of Help, 

Eben-Ezer, 

near which they had defeated the Israelites, 
and the Israelites are said (in another document) 1 afterwards 
to have defeated them. But these reasons do not reach 
more than probability. The name neither of Eben-ezer 
nor of Aphek has been identified in the neighbourhood, and 
on the data of the narratives Eben-ezer may just as probably 
have lain farther north — say at the head of Ajalon. 2 

The course of the ark's return, however, is certain. 
It was up the broad Vale of Sorek that the untended 
Beth-shemesh kine °f Beth-shemesh dragged the cart behind 
and the Ark. them with the ark upon it, lowing as they 
went, and turned not aside to the right or to the left, and 
the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the borders 
of Beth-shemesh. A nd Beth-shemesh — that is to say, all 
the villagers, as is the custom at harvest-time — were in 
the valley — the village itself lay high up on the valley's 

1 I Samuel vii. 

2 The argument stated above for the identity of the great stone by Beth- 
shemesh (i Samuel vi. 14, 18) with Eben-ezer (iv. 1, v. 1, and vii. 12) is 
M. Clermont Ganneau's {P.E.F.Q., 1874, 279; 1877, 154 ff.). Wilson 
thinks Deir Aban too remote from Shiloh and Mizpeh. Certainly it does not 
suit the topography of I Samuel vii. II, 12, which, by the way, is from 
another document than chapters iv. , v., and vi. According to the Hebrew 
text of vii. 11, 12, Ebenezer is under Beth-car, perhaps but not certainly the 
present 'Ain Karim, and between Mizpeh and Hashen, the tooth ; but 
according to the LXX. under Beth-Jashan, between Mizpeh and Jashan or 
Jeshanah, that is, 'Ain Sinia north of Bethel (as M. Clermont Ganneau 
himself suggests), and therefore on a possible line of Philistine advance. 
Chaplin {P.E.F.Q. 1888, 263 ff.) suggests Beit Iksa for Ebenezer ; Conder, 
Deir el Azar, near Kuriet el Enab, and finds the name Aphek in Merj 
Fikieh, near Bab el Wad. See also Milner, P.E.F.Q., 1887, iii. The 
Aphek marked on the P.E.F. Red. Survey Map (1 891) at Kh. Beled el Foka, 
south of Beth-shemesh, is one of the too many identifications which impair 
the clearness and usefulness of this fine map. 



The Shephelah 225 



southern bank — reaping the wheat harvest, and they lifted 
up their eyes and saw the ark, and came rejoicing to meet it} 
And the cart came into the field of foshua the Bethshemite 
and stood there, and a great stone was there, and they clave the 
wood of the cart, and the kine they offered as a burnt-offering 
to fehovah — certainly upon the stone. And the five lords of 
the Philistines saw, and returned to Ekron the same day. . , 
And the great stone whereon they set down the ark of Jehovah 
is a witness thereof in the field of foshua the Bethshemite. 

In the Shephelah, however, the ark was not to remain. The 
story continues that some of the careless harvesters, who had 
run to meet the ark, treated it too familiarly — gazed at it 
— and fehovah smote of them threescore and ten men? The 
plague which the ark had brought upon Philistia clung 
about it still. As stricken Ashdod had passed it on to 
Gath, Gath to Ekron, and Ekron to Beth-shemesh, so Beth- 
shemesh now made haste to deposit it upon Jehovah's 
own territory of the hills : To whom shall he go up from 
us ? The nearest hill-town was Kiriath Kiriath 
Jearim, the Town of the Woods} This must Jeanm. 
have lain somewhere about Mount Jearim, the rugged, 
wooded highlands, which look down on the basin of Sorek 
from the north of the great defile. But the exact site is 
not known with certainty. Some think it was the present 
Kuriet ( Enab to the north of Mount Jearim, and others 
Khurbet 'Erma to the south, near the mouth of the great 
defile. Each of these, it is claimed, echoes the ancient 
name ; each suits the descriptions of Kiriath Jearim in the 
Old Testament. For the story of the ark Khurbet 'Erma 
has the advantage, lying close to Beth-shemesh, and yet in 

1 So the LXX. 

1 Most authoress omit the previous fifty thousand. * Jer. xxvi 20. 

P 



226 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



the hill-country. Leaving the question of the exact site 
open, we must be satisfied with the knowledge that Kiriath 
Jearim lay on the western border of Benjamin ; once the 
ark was set there, it was off the debatable ground of the 
Shephelah and within Israel's proper territory. Here, in 
the field of the woods} it rested till David brought it up to 
Jerusalem, and that was probably why Kiriath Jearim was 
also called Kiriath Baal, or Baal of Judah, for in those 
times Baal was not a name of reproach, but the title 
even of Jehovah as Lord and Preserver of His people's 
land. 2 

3. The third valley which cuts the Shephelah is the 
Wady es Sunt, which, when it gets to the back of the low 
hills, turns south into the Wady es Sur, the 

ValeofElah. t 

great trench between the Shephelah and 
Judah. Near the turning the narrow Wady el Jindy curves 
off to the north-west to the neighbourhood of Bethlehem. 
The Wady es Sunt is probably the Vale of Elan. 8 Its 

1 Psalm cxxxii. 6. 

s Robinson suggested K. 'Enab, and this suits the data of the Onomasticon, 
which places Kiriath Jearim at the ninth milestone from Jerusalem towards 
Lydda. It lies also convenient to the other towns of the Gibeonite League 
to which it belonged, Gibeon, Chephirah, and Beeroth (Joshua ix. 17 ; cf. 
Ezra ii. 25) ; it suits the place of Kiriath Jearim on the borders of Judah and 
Benjamin (Joshua xv. 9, xviii. 14), and it can be reached by an easy road 
from Beth-shemesh. Khurbet 'Erma was first suggested by Henderson, and 
then examined and accepted by Conder (see Henderson's Palestine, 85, 112, 
210). The name has the consonants of Je'arim (exactly those in Ezra ii. 25, 
where the name is 'arim), but it also means ' heaps of corn,' and may not be 
derived from the ancient name. The site may be fitted into the line of the 
borders of Benjamin and Judah. The site is ancient, with a platform of rock 
that has all the appearance of a high-place or shrine (Conder, P.E.F. Q. , 1881, 
265). But it is very far away from the other members of the Gibeonite 
league. On Baal-Jehudah, see 2 Samuel vi. 2. 

• Sunt is the terebinth. Elah is any large evergreen tree, like ilex or tere- 
binth (Baudissin, Stud. ii. 185, n. 1). The Vale of Elah, 1 Samuel xvii. 2. 
19 ; xxi. 9. 



The Shephelah 227 



entrance from the Philistine Plain is commanded by the 
famous Tell-es-Safiyeh, the Blanchegarde of the Crusaders, 
whose high white front looks west across the 

, a * 1 1 ™ i Tell-es-Safi. 

plain twelve miles to Ashdod. Blanchegarde 
must always have been a formidable position, and it is 
simply inability to assign to the site any other Biblical 
town — for Libnah has no satisfactory claims — that makes 
the case so strong for its having been the site of Gath. 
Blanchegarde is twenty-three miles from Jerusalem, but 
the way up is most difficult after you leave the Wady es 
Sunt. It is a remarkable fact that when Richard decided 
to besiege Jerusalem, and had already marched from Aska- 
lon to Blanchegarde on his way, instead of then pursuing 
the Wady es Sunt and its narrow continuation to Beth- 
Jehem, he preferred to turn north two days' march across 
the Shephelah hills with his flank to the enemy, and to 
attack his goal up the Valley of Ajalon. 1 

An hour's ride from Tell-es-Safi up the winding Vale ol 
Elah brings us through the Shephelah, to where the Wady 
es Sur turns south towards Hebron, 2 and the narrow Wady 
el Jindy strikes up towards Bethlehem. At the junction 
of the three there is a level plain, a quarter of a mile broad, 
cut by two brooks, which combine to form the stream 
down Wady es Sunt. This plain is probably David and 
the scene of David's encounter with Goliath ; Goliath - 
for to the south of it, on the low hills that bound the 
Wady es Sunt in that direction, is the name Shuweikeh, 
probably the Shocoh, on which the Philistines rested their 
rear and faced the Israelites across the valley. 

The ' Gai,' or ravine, which separated them has been 

1 Vinsauf, Itin. Ric. v. 48. See p. 214. 

■ The Wady es Sur and the Wady es Sunt are parts of the same Wady. 



228 The Historical Geography of the Holy Lard 



recognised in the deep trench which the combined streams 
have cut through the level land, and on the other side 
there is the Wady el Jindy, a natural road for the Israel- 
ites to have come down from their hills. Near by is Beit 
Fased, probably an echo of Ephes-Dammim, and on the 
spot where we should seek for the latter. It is the very 
battle-field for those ancient foes : Israel in one of the 
gateways to her mountain-land ; the Philistines on the low 
hills they so often overran ; and between them the great 
valley that divides Judah from the Shephelah. Major 
Conder and Principal Miller have given detailed descrip- 
tions of the battle and its field. 1 Only the following needs 
to be added : Shocoh is a strong position isolated from the 
rest of the ridge, and it keeps open the line of retreat down 
the valley. Saul's army was probably not immediately 
opposite, but a little way up on the slopes of the incoming 
Wady el Jindy, and so placed that the Philistines, in 
attacking it, must cross not only the level land and the 
main stream, but one of the two other streams as well, and 
must also climb the slopes for some distance. Both posi- 
tions were thus very strong, and this fact perhaps explains 
the long hesitation of the armies in face of each other, 
even though the Philistines had the advantage of Goliath. 
The Israelite position certainly looks the stronger. It is 
interesting, too, that from its rear the narrow pass goes 
right up to the interior of the land near Bethlehem ; so 
that the shepherd-boy, whom the story represents as being 
sent by his father for news of the battle, would have 
almost twelve miles to cover between his father's house 
and the camp. 

1 Conder, P.E.F.Q., 1876, 40 ; T. W., 279. Miller, Least of all Lands, 
ch. v., with a plan of the field. Cf. Cheyne, Hallowing of Criticism. 



The Shephelah 



229 



If you ride southwards from the battle-field up the Wady 
es Sur, you come in about two hours to a wide valley 
running into the Shephelah on the right. On 

Adullam. 

the south side of this there is a steep hill, with 
a well at the foot of it, and at the top the shrine of a 
Mohammedan saint. They call the hill by a name 'Aid-el- 
ma, in which it is possible to hear 'Adullam, and its posi- 
tion suits all that we are told about David's stronghold. It 
stands well off the Central Range, and is very defensible. 
There is water in the valley, and near the top some 
large low caves, partly artificial. If we can dismiss the 
idea that all David's four hundred men got into the cave 
of Adullam — a pure fancy for which the false tradition, 
that the enormous cave of Khareitun near Bethlehem is 
Adullam, is responsible — we shall admit that this hill was 
just such a stronghold as David is said to have chosen. It 
looks over to judah, and down the Wady es Sunt ; it 
covers two high-roads into the former, and Bethlehem, 
from which David's three mighty men carried the water 
he sighed for, is, as the crow flies, not twelve miles away. 
The site is, therefore, entirely suitable ; and yet we cannot 
say that there is enough resemblance in the modern name 
to place it beyond doubt as Adullam. 1 

1 The tradition that Adullam is the great cave of Khareitun {i.e. Saint 
Chariton, d. 410), SE. of Bethlehem, cannot be traced behind the Crusaders. 
It is probably due to them. The Adullam of the Old Testament lay off the 
Central Range altogether, for men from the latter went down to it (Gen. 
xxxviii. I ; 1 Sam. xxii. I ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 13). The prophet Gad bids David 
leave it and go into the land of fudah (1 Sam. xxii. 5) ; and it is reckoned with 
Shocoh, Azekah, Gath, Mareshah, and other towns in the Shephelah west of 
Hebron (Joshua xv. 35, in the list of towns in the Shephelah, v. 33 ; 
Nehemiah xi. 30; Micah i. 15 ; 2 Chronicles xi. 7 ; cf. 2 Mace. xii. 38). 
So great a mass of evidence is conclusive for a position somewhere in the 
Shephelah. It is not contradicted in the two passages (2 Samuel xxiii. 13 ; 
I Chronicles xi. 15) describing how water was brought to David in Adullam 



230 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



The only other famous site up the Wady es Sur is that 
of Ke'ilah, or Kegilah. It is probably the present Kela, 
a hill covered with ruins on the Tudaean side of 

Ke'ilah. . 

the valley. When David returned from Adul- 
iam to Judah, he heard that the Philistines were besieging 
Ke'ilah, a fenced town with bolts and bars} In obedience 
to the oracle of Jehovah, he and his men attacked the 
Philistines, and relieved it. But Saul heard he was there, 
and hoped, with the connivance of the inhabitants, to catch 
him in a trap, David, therefore, hurriedly left Ke'ilah, 
and for a time the whole Shephelah, for the wilderness on 
the other side of Judah. 2 

4. The fourth of the valleys that cut the Shephelah is 

from the well at Bethlehem, twelve miles from the nearest site on the 
Shephelah. Stade [G. V.I. i. 244) reads I Samuel xxiii. 3, as ascribing to 
Aduliam a position in Judah, but he manages this only by reading xxii. 5 as 
a gloss, and for this there are no real grounds. Retain xxii. 5, which tells, 
how David went back from Aduliam to Judah, and xxiii. 3, though probably 
from another document than xxii., follows on correctly. Finally, there is no 
reason for separating the cave from the city Aduliam (so Birch, P.E.F.Q., 
1884, p. 61 ; 1886, p. 31). Aduliam, then, being proved to be on tha 
Shephelah, the next question is the exact site. And as to this, it is safest to 
say that, while many sites are possible, 'Aid-el-ma is the preferable. It is the 
only one that possibly has an echo of the old name, and, lying as it does on 
the east of the Shephelah, it suits Adullam's frequent association in the Old 
Testament with Shocoh and Azekah, while it is only some seven miles from 
Mareshah, with which Micah joins it. Deir Dubban, suggested by V. 
de Velde {Reise, etc., ii. 155 ff.), is on the west slope of the Shephelah, and has 
really no point in its favour but its caves. Clermont Ganneau is the dis- 
coverer of 'Aid-el-ma. The Onomasticon need not be taken into account. 
It confounds Aduliam and Eglon. 
1 I Sam. xxiii. 

3 The site Khurbet Kela was proposed by Guinn, Jud. iii. 341. In Josh, 
xv. 43, 44, it is mentioned with Nesib, and this is probably the neighbouring 
Beii-Nasib. It is mentioned in the Tdl-cl-Amarna Tablets, Conder, pp. 143, 
144, 151-155, and Nasib 157. It is practically on the Shephelah (this against 
Dillmann). The Onomasticon confounds, and puts KeetXd on Hebron and 
Beit-Jibrin road at seven (or seventeen) miles from Hebron. This is evi- 
dently Beit-Kahil, which is not in the Shephelah, but on the mountains oi 
Judah. 



The Shephelah 



231 



that now named the Wady el 'Afranj, which runs from 
opposite Hebron north-west to Ashdod and the coast. It is 
important as containing the real capital of wadyei 
the Shephelah, the present Beit-Jibrin. 1 This 'Afranj. 
site has not been identified with any Old Testament name, 2 
but, like so many other places in Palestine, its permanent 
importance is illustrated by its use during Roman times, 
and especially during the Crusades. It is not 

1 r 1 1 1 1 • Beit-Jibrin. 

a place of any natural strength, and this is 
perhaps why we hear nothing of it, so far as we know, 
during the older history ; but it is the converging point of 
many roads, and the soft chalk of the district lends itself 
admirably to the hewing of intricate caves — two facts 
which fully account for its later importance. Indeed, these 
caves have been claimed as proof that the Horites, or 
cave-dwellers, of the early history of Israel, had their centre 
here, 3 but none of them bear any mark older than the 
Christian era. The first possible mention of Beit-Jibrin is 
in an amended passage of Josephus, where he describes it 
as a stronghold of the Idumaeans, who overran the She- 
phelah in the last centuries before Christ, and as taken by 
Vespasian when he was blockading the approaches to Jeru- 
salem. 4 The Romans built roads from it in all directions, 

1 Ptolemy, xv. ' Betogabra ; ' Tab. Peut. ' Betogubri.' Nestle, Z.D.P. V. 
i. 222-225, takes it to be the Aramaic N"DJ TV2 — ' House of the Men,' or 
' Strong Men ' — and shows its identity with Eleutheropolis from a Syrian MS. 
of the third century. Robinson, B.R. ii. 61, had already put this past doubt. 
In the same paper Nestle, on good grounds, places Elkosh, the birthplace of 
Nahum, close by. 

2 Thomson, L. and proposes it as the site of Gath, but see p. 194 f. 

s Talm. Bereskith Rabba, xlii. describes Eleutheropolis as inhabited by 
Horites, and derives the name Free-town from the fact that the Horim chose 
these caves that they might dwell there in liberty ! So also Jerome, Comm. 
in Obadiam. 

* iv. IVars, viii. I, by reading fiyyafipis for /J»r<V*«. 



232 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



the high straight lines of which still dominate the brush- 
wood and corn-fields of the neighbouring valleys. About 
200 A.D. Septimius Severus refounded it, and its name was 
changed to Eleutheropolis. 1 It was the centre of the 
district, the half-way house between Jerusalem and Gaza, 
Hebron and Lydda, and the Onomasticon measures from 
it all distances in the Shephelah. 

Many times, as our horses' hoofs strike pavement on the 
Roman roads of Palestine, and we lift our eyes to the 
unmistakable line across the landscape, we 

Roman Roads. . -it 

pilgrims from the iar north are reminded 
that these same straight lines cross our own island, 
that by our own doors milestones have been dug up 
similar to those which lie here, and we are thrilled with 
some imagination of what the Roman Empire was, and 
how it grasped the world. But by Beit-Jibrin this feeling 
grows still more intense, for the Roman buildings there 
are mostly the work of the same emperor who built the 
wall on the Tyne, and hewed his way through Scotland 
to the shores of the Pentland Firth. 

There are early Christian remains at Beit-Jibrin, both 
caves and churches, but we shall take them up afterwards in 
speaking of the rise of Christianity throughout 
and the the Shephelah. The Crusaders came to Beit- 
Jibrin, or Gibelin as they called it, and thought 
it was Beersheba. 2 They made it their base against Aska- 
lon, and Fulke of Anjou built the citadel. It was in charge 
of the Knights of St. John, and they attempted to colonise 

1 The date is fixed by the earliest coins of the city, with its new name and 
the name of Severus, of the years 202, 203 A.D. 

s Gibelin, also Begibelinum and Bersabe Judaeae. Rohricht, Z.D.P. V, 
x. 240. 



The Shephelah 233 



the neighbourhood in 1168. 1 The monuments they have 
left are some ruins of a beautiful Gothic church, some 
thick fortifications, and their name in the Wady el 'Afranj, 
or ' Valley of the Franks.' 

Not two miles from Beit-Jibrin lies Mer'ash, the Mare- 
shah or Moresheth-gath of the Old Testament, 2 and 
birthplace of the prophets Eliezer and Micah. 

t 1 • a r 1 • Mareshah. 

In the reign of Asa an army of Ethiopians, 
under Zerah, came up this avenue through the Shephelah, 
but by Mareshah Asa defeated them, and pursued them 
to Gerar. 3 In 163 B.C. Judas Maccabeus laid Mareshah 
waste in his campaign against the Idumseans.* John 
Hyrcanus took it again from their hands in no, and 
Pompey gave it back to them. 6 Mareshah was one of 
the towns Gabinius rebuilt, but the Parthians, in 40 B.C., 
swept down on it, 6 and thereafter we hear no more of it 
till Eusebius tells us it is desert. 7 Thus it was an impor- 
tant and ' a powerful town ' 8 as long as Beit-Jibrin was 
unheard of ; when Beit-Jibrin comes into history, it dis- 
appears. Can we doubt that we have here one of those 
frequent instances of the transference of a community to a 
new and neighbouring site ? If this be so, we have now 
full explanation of the silence of the Old Testament about 
Beit-Jibrin ; it was really represented by Mareshah. 

1 Will, of Tyre, xiv. 22. On the colony see Prutz, Z.D.P. V. iv. 113. 

a Josh. xv. 44 ; 2 Chron. xi. 8 ; xiv. 9, 10 ; xx. 37 ; Micah i. I, 15 ; Jer. 
xxvi. 18 ; 2 Mace. xii. 35. But see Additional Notes to Fourth Edition. 

8 2 Chron. xiv. 9 ff. The Massoretic Text places the battle in the Valley ol 
Sephathah (PinDV at Mareshah, LXX. gives north of Mareshah. Robin' 
son, Bib. Ris. ii. 31, compares Sephathah with Tell-es-Safiyeh. 

4 163 B.C., as he went from Hebron to Ashdod, Josephus xii. Antt. viii. 6, 
In 1 Mace. v. 66, read Mdpiaaa for "Lafiapela. 

8 Josephus, xiii. Antt. ix. I ; xiv. Antt. iv. 4. 

• lb. xiii. 0. 7 Onom. Mdowa. 1 So Josephut* 



234 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



5. The last of the valleys through the Shephelah is 
Wady el Hesy, or Wady el Jizair, running from a point 
about six miles south-west of Hebron to the 

Wady el Hesy. 

sea, between Gaza and Askalon. This valley 
also has its important sites ; for Lachish, which used to be 
placed at Umm Lakis, on the slopes to the south, is now, 
by the English survey and excavations, proved to have 
been Tell el Hesy, a mound in the bed of the valley, and 
Eglon — the present 'Ajlan — is not far off. These two 
were very ancient Amorite fortresses. Eglon disappeared 
from history at an early period, but Lachish endured, 
always fulfilling the same function, time after time suffering 
the same fate. Her valley is the first in the Shephelah 
which the roads from Egypt strike, and Gaza 
stands at its lower end. Lachish has therefore 
throughout history played second to Gaza, now an outpost 
of Egypt, and now a frontier fortress of Syria. In the 
Tell-el-Amarna Letters we read of her in Egyptian hands. 
She is the farthest city Egyptwards which Rehoboam 
fortifies. 1 Sennacherib must take her before he invades 
Egypt. 2 During the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, her 
successor at Umm Lakis is held by the Order of the 
Hospitallers, 3 for the same strategical reasons. 4 Again, 
some five miles above Lachish, at the Wells of Qassaba, or 
' the Reeds,' there is usually wealth of water, and all the 
year round a stream. Latin chronicles of the Crusades 
know the place as Cannetum Esturnellorum, or 1 the Cane- 

1 2 Chron. xi. 9. 

2 2 Kings xviii. 14, 17 ; xix. 8 ; Isa. xxxvi. 2 ; xxxvii. 8 ; 2 Chron. xxxii. 9. 

3 Their name for Lachish, Malagues or Malaques (cf. Rbhricht, Z.D.P. V. 
x - 239)— that is, Umm Lakis — is a good instance of what the unfortunate 
names of this country have suffered at the mouths of its conquerors. 

4 On Lachish excavated see Petrie, Tell el Hcsy t 1 89 1 ; Bliss, P.E.F.Q. 1892 f. 



The Shephelah 235 



brake of the Starlings : ' and Richard twice made it a base 
of operations — once on coming up the Wady el Hesy from 
tfie coast, when he advanced on Beit-Jibrin, and once again 
when he came south to intercept, in the Wady esh Sheria, a 
rich caravan on its way from Egypt. 1 Through all these 
ages, then, Lachish was an outpost, and, as we should now 
say, a customs-station, between Judaea and Egypt. War 
and commerce both swept past her. But thib enables us to 
understand her neighbour Micah's word about her. In his 
day Judah's sin was to lean on Egypt, to accept Egyptian 
subsidies of horses and chariots. So Micah mocks Lachish, 
playing on the assonance of her name to that for a horse .• 
Yoke the wagon to the steed, O inhabitress of Lachish ; begin- 
ning of sin is she to the daughter of Zion, for in thee are 
found the transgressions of Israel , 2 

I have now explained the strategic importance of the 
Shephelah, and especially of the five valleys which are the 
only possibilities of passage through it for great armies. 
How much of the history of all these centuries can be 
placed along one or other of them ; and, when we have 
placed it, how much more vivid that history becomes ! 

There is one great campaign in the Shephelah which we 
have not discussed in connection with any of the main 
routes, because the details of it are obscure — 

, Sennacherib 

Sennacherib s invasion of Syria in 701 B.C. in the 
But the general course of this, as told in the shephelah " 
Assyrian annals and in the Bible, becomes plain in the 
light of the geography we have been studying. Sen- 
nacherib, coming down the coast, like the Syrians and 

1 Vlnsauf, Itin. Ricard, v. 41 ; vi. 4. On the identification of Qassaba 
with the Cannetum Esturnellorum, see Clermont Ganneau, Recueil, etc., 378. 

2 Micah i. 13, 



236 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Crusaders, like them also conquered first the towns about 
Joppa. Then he defeated an Egyptian army before Al- 
teku, somewhere near Ekron, on the Philistine Plain, 1 and 
took Ekron and Timnah. With Egypt beaten back, and 
the Northern Shephelah mastered, his way was now open 
into Judah, the invasion of which and the investment of 
Jerusalem accordingly appear next in the list of Sen- 
nacherib's triumphs. These must have been effected by a 
detachment of the Assyrian army, for Sennacherib himself 
is next heard of in the Southern Shephelah, besieging 
Lachish and Libnah, no doubt with the view of securing 
his way to Egypt. At Lachish he received the tribute 
of Hezekiah, who thus hoped to purchase the relief of the 
still inviolate Jerusalem ; but, in spite of the tribute, he 
sent to Hezekiah from Lachish and Libnah two peremp- 
tory demands for her surrender. Then suddenly, in the 
moment of Zion's despair, the Assyrian army was smitten, 
not, as we usually imagine, round the walls of Jerusalem, 
for the Bible nowhere implies that, but under Sennacherib 
himself in the main camp and headquarters. Either these 
were still in the Southern Shephelah— for Sennacherib's 
own annals do not carry him south of Lachish, and Egypt 
often sent her plagues up this way to Palestine 2 — or, if we 
may believe Herodotus, they had crossed the desert to 
Pelusium, and were overtaken in that pestiferous region, 
which has destroyed so many armies. 3 

1 Alteku, the Eltekeh of Josh. xix. 44, cannot be where the P.E.F. Red. 
Map (1891) makes it, at Beit-Likea, far up Ajalon — for how could an Egyp- 
tian and Assyrian army have met there ? — but was near Ekron, on the road 
to Egypt. Here Kh. Lezka is the only modern name like it. 

2 1 R.P. I.j Schrader, K.A.T. 1. p. 218 ff. ; Stade, Gesch. i. 620 ff. ; Isaiah, 
Exp. Bible, 1. chaps, xix. to xxiii. Schrader wrongly makes the crisis at the 
battle of Eltekeh. » See p. 158 f. 



CHAPTER XI 

EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN THE SHEPHELAH 
ITS CAVES AND CHURCHES 



For this Chapter consult Map IF. 



EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN THE SHEPHELAH : 
ITS CAVES AND CHURCHES 



UR study of the Shephelah has covered only the 



campaigns and battles which have ranged over its 
very debatable ground. But the region had its victories of 
peace as well as of war, and throughout it you find 
to-day ruins of cloisters and of churches, and caves with 
Christian symbols. Many of the former are, no doubt, 
ruins of Crusaders' buildings ; but some go back to the 
Byzantine period, and the caves with the crosses marked 
on their walls are probably early Christian. Christianity 
conquered the Shephelah almost before any other part of 
Palestine, and the story of the conquest is a heroic one. 1 

Among the crowds who followed our Lord at the 
beginning of His ministry were many from Idumaea. 2 
Idumsea was then practically the southern 

Idumsea. 

Shephelah, with the Negeb. The Edomites 
had come up on it during the Jewish exile, and after the 
return of the Jews they continued to hold the greater part 
of it. Judas Maccabeus temporarily conquered their ter- 
ritory, 3 but John Hyrcanus brought them under the law 
and circumcised them. 4 By the Law the third generation 

1 It is told in the histories of Eusebius, Socrates and Sozomen, in Jerome's 
Letters, and in his Life of Hilarion. Stark's Gaza, etc., § 16, takes it up at 
points. 2 Mark iii. 8. 8 See p. 233. 

* \bout 125 B.C. JoseDhu* xiii. Antt. ix. I ; i. Wars ii. 6 




240 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



of Edomites were admitted to the full privileges of Israel, 1 
so that in our Lord's time Idumaea was practically a part 
of Judaea, with a Jewish population. 2 Many out of 
Idumaea heard Him, and it is probable that Idumaeans 

The Apostles were P resent on tne day of Pentecost. Apostles 
in the and evangelists went down into the Shephelah. 

Shephelah. 53 r 

Peter we have seen at Lydda, and from the 
Christians at Lydda, influences might easily pass across 
the whole region by the high-road to Beit-Jibrin. Philip 
met the Ethiopian somewhere in the southern Shephelah, 
and was afterwards found at Ashdod. 3 Very early, then, 
little communities of Christians must have been formed 
among these beautiful glens and moors. Tradition assigns 
one of the Twelve, Simon Judas, to Beit-Jibrin. 4 When 
times of persecution came, we. can understand how 
readily this land of caves, where David and his men had 
hid themselves from Saul, would be used by Christian 
fugitives from the Greek cities of the coast. The habits 
of the ascetic life also spread here from Egypt. Monks 
and hermits settled first to the south of Gaza, 6 then came 
up the Wady el Hesy to the district round Beit-Jibrin, 
and found among the villages of the Shephelah a far 
nobler work to do than their brother monks of the Libyan 
and Arabian deserts. With a persistence and success, 
the proof of which appeared in the aid rendered by the 
country districts to the Christians of the cities in the 
struggles of the fourth century, they converted the 
peasants and built them up in the faith. Here the contrast 

1 Deut. xxiii. 8, 9 (Heb. but Eng. Version, 7, 8). 

5 How violently Jewish may be seen from the part they took to themselves 
in the Jewish revolt of 66 a.d. — Jos. iv. Wars, iv. 4. 3 Acts viii. 39. 

4 Stark's Gaza, etc., p. 613 — after the Dt LXX. Domini discipulis. 

6 Jerome's Lift of Hilarion. 



Early Christianity in the Shephelah 241 



which was seen all over the rest of the world was reversed, 
and ' urban ' might have been taken as the synonym of 
idolater, but 'heathen' and 'pagan' as the by-names of 
the Christians. Even so early as the Decian persecutions, 
and still more in those which the Church suffered under 
Diocletian and Maximin, many confessors were brought in 
' from the country ' to martyrdom at Caesarea, 

J J .,1 The Martyrs 

or sent back to their glens mutilated and of the 
branded. 1 Some have been named for us. shephelah * 
Romulus, a sub-deacon of the Church at Lydda, was one 
of six young men who, first binding their hands, went to 
the amphitheatre of Caesarea, where some of their brethren 
were being thrown to the beasts, and boldly declared 
themselves to the governor as Christians. 2 They were 
beheaded. Zebina of Beit-Jibrin was one of three who 
defied the Governor of Caesarea, when he was sacrificing 
to idols. They were executed. 3 Petrus Asketes, a youth 
from Anea in the borders of Beit-Jibrin, was burned to 
death in the same city. 4 The Shephelah lay at the very 
doors of that slaughter-house, into which the fury of 
Maximin had converted the whole Syrian coast from 
Egypt to Cilicia ; and during the eight 5 years of the 
great persecution its Christian communities must have 
been constantly thrilled by the stories of heroism, martyr- 
dom, and miracle which came up to them from the sea- 
board. Lying in caves, the mouths of many of which look 
out over the plain upon Gaza and Askalon, they were told 
how the gates of these cities were beset by spies, and 
Christians were caught as they came in from the country 
or were travelling between Cilicia and Egypt ; how some 

1 Euseb. H.E. viii. passim. 2 Ib, 3. ' Ib. 9. 

4 Ib. 10. 5 So ib. 13 ; but ' ten year.s,' ib. 15. 

Q 



242 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



were found in the towns reading the Scriptures, and 
dragged before the prefect ; how some were burned, and 
all were tortured ; how some were thrown to the wild 
beasts, and some were trained for pugilistic combats to 
make a Roman holiday ; how human heads and limbs 
were sometimes scattered about the gates to terrify the 
peasants as they came in ; and how a strange dew once 
broke out on all the buildings of Csesarea, and people 
said that the very stones must weep at cruelties so terrible. 
And men wanting a foot, or a hand, or an eye, or seared 
fccross the face, or with their sides torn by hooks, would 
come up to these caves to die ; and some country youths, 
emulous of martyrdom, would rush off to Caesarea and 
defy the governor himself in the great theatre. These 
things are told by Eusebius, who lived through them, and 
is a sober and accurate writer. 1 

The most intricate caves of the Shephelah are those about 
Beit-Jibrin — that is, the very district of whose Christianity 
The Caves of we near most. The yellow chalk of the ridges 
Beit-jibnn. ^ere is easy to carve, and hardens on exposure. 
Some of the old caves, which had probably been used from 
time immemorial, 2 must have lately been enlarged as quarries 
for the building of Eleutheropolis ; others had been used by 
the Jews as tombs. But by the Christians they were 
greatly increased. There is in them, as they now lie, no 
such wealth of inscriptions as in the Roman catacombs, 
but that their present form is due to the early Christians 
seems proved by these facts : that the chambers have in 
many cases been run through Jewish tombs ; 8 that almost 
the only ornament is the Cross, and that the only Moslem 

1 History, Bk. viii., cf. Theodoret iii. 7 ; Evagrius i. 21, etc. 

* See p. 231. * P.E.F. Mem. Judaea, 268. 



Early Christianity in the Shephelah 243 



inscriptions yet discovered are very early ones in the Curie 
character. 1 A few notes, taken on the spot, will perhaps 
give a vivid idea of the caves about Beit-Jibrin :— 

. . Down a steep grass gully to some rough steps — 
evidently not the original entrance, but one broken by the fall 
of the rock — and so, lighting our candles, into a large chamber. 
Thence we crept, by a passage as high as my walking-stick, to a 
larger room, of elegant shape, with a pillar in the centre, 2 ft. 
thick each way. Climbing to the top of some rubbish, we found 
a hole in the wall, and passed through into a great bell-shaped 
chamber, round which there descended a spiral staircase with a 
balustrade. We went down to the bottom, 50 steps. Returning, 
half-way up we found a door into another series of chambers, 
which we penetrated for about 200 feet ; they went on further. 
We came back to the staircase, and passed by it out of the solid 
rock into a narrow vaulted passage choked with rubbish, at what 
seemed to be the proper entrance to the labyrinth.' 

This describes but a part of one series of caves in one 
district. Elsewhere round Beit-Jibrin there are other 
series, in which you may wander for hours through cells, 
rooms, and pillared halls with staircases and long cor- 
ridors, all cut out of the soft yellow chalk. There is 
almost no ornament, nor trace of ornament having been 
removed. Where the walls are preserved, they have no 
breaks in them save niches for holding little lamps. 
The low passages, along which you have to creep, 
suggest their origin in times of terror ; and the natural 
mouths of many, hidden by bush, and overlooking all the 
plain to the sea, are splendid posts of observation for the 
sentinels of hunted men. But the vaulted masonry of 
other entrances speaks of more peaceful days ; and all the 
chambers are dry, and in summer delightfully cool. While, 

1 Robinson (and Eli Smith), B.R. ii. Guerin, Jud. \L 



244 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



then, some of these caves about Beit-Jibrin may have been 
inhabited, or even first formed, during the great persecu- 
tions, the bulk of them are probably due to the monks 
and hermits who came up here from Egypt 

Deir-Dubban. rT , 1 ^ . ^ , , , / . 

The caves at Deir-Dubban, to the north of 
Beit-Jibrin, have also a few crosses, and what look like 
Cufic inscriptions high up on the walls. They, too, there- 
fore, are to be assigned to the Byzantine period. 1 

When the Christianity of the Shephelah came above 
ground again, it built some noble churches. Close by the 

caves just described stands the ruin Sandhanneh, 

The Churches A , r . 

of the the Church of Sancta Anna, mother of the 

Shepneiah. y{ r gj n> {{• j s the east end of a Greek basilica, 
and with the foundations, which can still be traced for the 
rest of the building, implies a church as great and beautiful 
as the Basilica of Justinian in Bethlehem. It probably 
dates from the same age, when the famous Marcian, who 
built the churches of Gaza, was bishop there, and his 
brother was Bishop of Eleutheropolis. 2 Byzantine remains 
have been recognised in other parts of the Shephelah, as 
at Deir-el-Bedawiyeh, Deir-el-Botum, and Deir-el-Mohallis 
or Convent of the Saviour. 3 Some of the untraceable 
ruins, which are so thickly strewn across these hills, must 
belong to the same period ; but other ecclesiastical 
remains, such as the chapel within the citadel at Beit- 
Jibrin, are French architecture of the thirteenth century, 
and the scattered stones to the north of Tell Jezer are 
also, we know, the work of the Crusaders. 4 

1 Guerin, Jud. ii. 105, 106. 3 Stark, Gaza, etc., p. 625. 

■ Guerin, /ud. ii. 27, 97, 98. 4 See p. 217. 



CHAPTER XII 

JUD^A AND SAMARIA— 
THE HISTORY OF THEIR FRONTIER 



For this Chapter consult Map W< 



JUDAEA AND SAMARIA— THE HISTORY 
OF THEIR FRONTIER 



VER the Shephelah we advance upon the Central 



Range. Our nearest goal is that part oi the range 
which is called the Hill-country, or Mount, of Judah. But 
it is necessary first to look at the range as a whole, and 
see how, and why, its short extent was divided first into 
the two kingdoms of Northern Israel and Judah, and then 
into the provinces of Samaria and Judaea. 

We have seen 1 that a long, deep formation of limestone 
extends all the way from Lebanon in the north to a line 
of cliffs opposite the Gulf and Canal of Suez in 

rr The Central 

the south. Of this backbone of Syria the part Range south 

i t- i % i i t».t i • i • • of Esdraelon. 

between Esdraelon and the Negeb is histori- 
cally the most famous. Those ninety miles of narrow 
highland from Jezreel to Beersheba were the chief theatre 
of the history of Israel. As you look from the sea they 
form a persistent mountain wall of nearly uniform level, 
rising clear and blue above the low hills which buttress it 
to the west. The one sign of a pass across it is the cleft we 
have already noticed, 2 between Ebal and Gerizim, in which 
Shechem, the natural capital of these highlands, lies. 
But uniform as that persistent range appears from the 




2 P. 119. 



247 



248 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



coast, almost the first thing you remember as you look at 
it is the prolonged political and religious division of 
which it was capable — first into the kingdoms 

Its division. 

of Northern Israel and Judah, and then into the 
provinces of Samaria and Judaea. Those ninety narrow 
miles sustained the arch-schism of history. Where did the 
line of this schism run ? Did it correspond to any natural 
division in the range itself? 

A closer observation shows that there was a natural 
boundary between northern and southern Israel. But its 
ambiguity is a curious symbol of the uncertain frontier of 
their religious differences. 

We have seen, first, that the bulk of Samaria consists of 
scattered mountain groups, while Judaea is a table-land ; 
Three natural an d> secondly, that while the Samarian moun- 
frontiers. tains descend continuously through the low 
hills upon the Maritime Plain, the hill-country of Judaea 
stands aloof from the Shephelah Range, with a well- 
defined valley between. 1 Now, these two physical differ- 
ences do not coincide : the table-land of Judaea runs farther 
north than its isolation from the low hills. Consequently, 
we have an alternative of frontiers. If we take the differ- 
ence between the relations of the two provinces to the 
Maritime Plain, the natural boundary will be the Vale of 
Ajalon, which penetrates the Central Range, and a line 
from it across the water-parting to the Wady Suweinit, 
the deep gorge of Michmash, which will continue the 
boundary to the Jordan at Jericho. If we take the dis- 
tinction between the scattered hills and the table-land, 
then the natural boundary from the coast eastwards to the 
Jordan will be the river 'Aujeh, the Wady Deir Balut, the 

1 See p. 205 f. 



The History of a Frontier 249 

VVady Nimr, a line across the water-parting to the Wady 
Samieh, and so down this and the Wady 'Aujeh to the 
Jordan, eight miles above Jericho. 1 For it is just where 
this line crosses the water-parting, about the Robber's 
Well on the high-road from Jerusalem to Nablus, that 
travellers coming north find the country change. They 
have descended from the plateau, and their road onward 
lies through valleys and plains, with ridge? between. This 
second natural border is easily remembered by the fact 
that it begins and ends with streams of the same name — 
'Aujeh, ' the crooked ' — and that, while the western stream 
reaches the sea a little above Joppa, the eastern falls into 
the Jordan a little above Jericho. Somewhat farther 
north, however, than this second line, there is a third and 
even more evident border, which leaves the Wady Deir 
Balut by the Wady Ishar, and runs north-east, deep and 
straight to 'Akrabbeh. Still farther north there is a fourth 
line, which leaves the western 'Aujeh by the Wadies Ishar 
and Kanah — the latter probably the Brook Kanah, the 
frontier between Ephraim and Manasseh — but this fourth 
line we need not take into our reckoning. 

Thus we have not one, but three possible frontiers 
across the range : south of Bethel, the line from the head 
of Ajalon to the gorge of Michmash ; north of Bethel, the 
change from table-land to valley, with deep wadies running 
both to Jordan and to the coast ; and, more northerly 
still, the Wady Ishar. None of these is by any means a 
1 scientific frontier,' and their ambiguity is reflected in the 
fortunes of the political border. 

The political border oscillated among these natural 
borders. 

1 TreL Saunders, lnirod. to Survey of W. Palestine, p. 229. 



250 The Historical Geogi-aphy of the Holy Land 



Take the most southerly — the line up the Wady Suweinit, 
across the plateau south of Bethel, and down Ajalon. 

This was a real pass across the range. Not 

Earliest r & 

political only did Israel by it first come up from the 
Jordan on to the table-land, and by it sweep 
down towards the sea, but it was in all ages a regular route 
for trade. 1 Its use, and the close connection into which it 
brought the Maritime Plain with the Jordan Valley, could 
not be more clearly proved than by the presence of the 
name Dagon at its eastern as well as its western end. A 
little way north of Jericho there was, down to the times of 
the Maccabees, a fortress called by the name of the Philis- 
tine god. 2 In Saul's days the Philistines were naturally 
anxious to hold this route, and, invading Israel by Ephraim, 
they planted their garrisons upon its northern side at 
Ramallah 3 and Michmash, while Saul's forces faced then, 
from its southern side. 4 This is the earliest appearance of 
this natural border across the Central Range in the char- 
acter of a political frontier. The next is a few years 
later : while David was king only of Judah, his soldiers 
sat down opposite those of Abner at Gibeon, 5 on a line 
between Ajalon and Michmash. After the disruption the 
same line seems to have been the usual frontier between 
the kingdoms of Northern Israel and Judah ; for Bethel, 6 to 

1 The Crusaders used it. See p. 183. 

3 Josephus, xiii. Antt. viii. It is probably the same as Docus (1 Mace, 
xvi. 15), which name is preserved in 'Ain Duk, to the north of Jericho. 

3 1 Samuel x. 5. The hill of God is probably the present Ramallah, 
south-west of Bethel. 

4 1 Samuel xiii. xiv. Seneh, so called from the thorns upon it (Jos. vide 
i. Wars, ii. i), lay on the south side of th« Michmash gorge. Bozez, the 
shining, for it lay facing the south, was opposite to Seneh on the north. 

• 2 Samuel ii. 13. 

6 1 Kings xii. 29, 2 Kings x. 29; Amosiii. 14, iv. 4, vii. 10, 13; Hoseax. 15. 



The History of a Frontier 



the north of it, was a sanctuary of Israel, and Geba, to the 
south of it, was considered as the limit of Judah. 1 But 
though the Vale of Ajalon and the gorge of Michmash 
form such a real division down both flanks of the plateau, 
the plateau itself between these offers no real frontier, but 
stretches level from Jerusalem to the north of Bethel. 
Consequently we find Judah and Israel pushing each other 
up and down on it, Israel trying to get footing south, and 
Judah trying to get footing north, of Michmash. For 
instance, Baasha, king of Israel, went up against Judah, 
and built, or fortified, Ramah, the present er-Ram, four 
miles north of Jerusalem, that he might not suffer any to go 
out or come in to Asa, king of Judah ; 2 but, Asa having 
paid the Syrians to invade Israel from the north, he left off 
building Ramah, and Asa made a levy throughout Judah, 
and they took away the stones and timber of Ramah wherewith 
Baasha had builded, and King Asa built, or fortified, with 
them Geba of Benjamin and Mizpeh? And conversely to 
Baasha's attempt on Ramah we find the kings of Judah 
making attempts on Bethel. Soon after the disruption, 
Abijah won it for Judah, 4 but it must have quickly reverted 
to the north. Similarly to the Bethel plateau, the Jordan 
valley offered no real frontier between Judah and Northern 
Israel, and consequently we find Jericho, though a Judaean 
city, in possession of the northerners. 5 On the west, North- 
ern Israel did not come south of the Vale of Ajalon, for in 
that direction the Philistines were still strong. 6 

1 The formula, from Dan to Beers heba, which meant united Israel, seems 
to have been replaced by the formula, from Geba to Beersheba (2 Kings 
xxiii. 8 ; cf. 1 Kings xv. 22). 

3 1 Kings xv. 17. 8 Ibid. 21, 22. 

4 2 Chronicles xiii. 19. 5 1 Kings xvi. 34, 2 Kings ii. 4 ff. 

6 1 Kings xvi. 15 ff., where we find Gibbethon, on the borders of Ephraim. 
to the north of Ajalon, in Philistine possession. 



252 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



When the kingdom of Northern Israel fell, Jericho and 
Bethel both reverted to Judah ; but Bethel was a tainted 
place, and Josiah destroyed it, 1 and still in his 

The Frontier . ' . . r , . r t 1 

from 721 b.c. time Geba was the formal limit of Judah. 2 
Only formal, however, for Bethel and other 
villages to the north must have been rebuilt and occupied 
by Jews. Men of Bethel returned in Zerubbabel's com- 
pany from exile along with men of Ai, Michmash, Gibeon, 
Anathoth, Azmaveth, Beeroth,- Ramah, and Geba, 3 on 
the plateau ; Lydda, Hadid, and Ono in Ajalon ; and 
Jericho and Senaah 4 in the Jordan Valley. All these are 
either upon or south of the line from Michmash to Ajalon, 
except Bethel, which is a little to the north. It is to be 
noted that Beth-horon, which was also on the line, but 
belonged to Ephraim, 6 is not mentioned among them. 
All this proves that, after the northern kingdom fell, Judah 
had only slightly pushed her frontier northwards. She got 
Jericho back, and a little place to the north of it, and 
Bethel, but she did not get Beth-horon. 

Except, then, for the northward bulge at Bethel, the 
political frontier between Judah and Israel was down 
to the Exile the most southerly of the three natural 
borders. 

During the Exile the Samaritans must have flowed 
south into the vacant or weakened Jewish cities, but the 
only evidence we have of em's concerns Lod, or Lydda, 
and its neighbourhood. Long after Lod's reoccupation 
by the Jews, the district was still nominally a Samaritan 

1 2 Kings xxiii. 4, 15. 1 Ibid. 8. 

5 Ezra ii. 20 ff., Neh. vii. 25 ff. 

4 Probably five miles north of Jericho ; cf. Onom, t Megdalsenn*. 

5 Joshua xvi. 3, 5, xxi, 22. 



The History of a Frontier 



253 



toparchy. 1 When the Jews returned they found the frontier 
obliterated ; their countrymen who had not gone into exile 
were fallen into idolatrous practices, and the Afterthe 
Samaritans came up to Jerusalem itself and Exile - 
offered to join them in building the Temple. The offer was 
rejected; but after the Temple was finished in 516, the 
Jewish exclusiveness gave way, and such intercourse was 
held with the Samaritans, by marriage and other relations, 
as must have scattered many Jews northwards across the 
old frontier. 2 Then under Ezra and Nehemiah (460-432), 
when the Samaritans were again excluded, they seem to 
have overthrown the walls of Jerusalem, and at the rebuild- 
ing of these they appeared in force. 3 All this time it is 
evident there was no real frontier north of Jerusalem. 
Soon after, as Nehemiah intimates, the Jews were again 
settled in the frontier towns of Geba, Michmash, Aija, 
Beth-el, Ramah, and down Ajalon in Hadid, Lydda, and 
Ono, and even at Neballat, to the north-west of Lydda. 4 

1 Lydda was a Samaritan vo/x6t up to the time of Jonathan Maccabeus 
(about 145 B.C.), I Mace. xi. 34, Josephus xiii. Antt. iv. 9. Another proof 
that the neighbourhood of Lydda is Samaritan is found in the fact that 
Sanballat asks Nehemiah to meet him there (Neh. vi. 2). 

2 Ezra ix. 2 ; Neh. xiii. 23 ff., especially 28. 

8 Neh. iv. 2, either in the Massoretic or the LXX. reading, which latter, 
to my mind, makes the better sense : Is this the power of Samaria^ that 
these Jews can build their city ? But see Ryle, in loco ( Camb. Bible for 
Schools) ; he thinks LXX. fails to throw any light. 

4 Neh. xi. 31-36. The other towns north of Jerusalem which are men- 
tioned are Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah (Beit Hanina), Hazor (Hazzur), all 
near Jerusalem ; Gittaim and Zeboim, unknown. Schlatter {Zur Topog. 
u. Gesch. Paldstinas, 53) has tried to prove that this list refers to pre- 
exilic times, and is out of date in Nehemiah. He holds Neh. xi. is 
taken from 1 Chron. ix., which belongs to the Books of the Kings of 
Judah. But, in consistency with his usual method of special pleading, 
he omits to say that the very verses he is dealing with in Neh. xi., viz. 
25 ff., do not appear in the document on 1 Chron. ix., which invalidates his 
whole argumcut. There is no reason to believe that Neh. xi. 25 ff. is not 



254 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



As before the Exile, Beth-horon is not mentioned among 
the Jewish towns ; and Sanballat, the Samaritan, is called 
the Horonite. 1 For one hundred and sixty years we hear 
no more of the frontier, except that in a time of the Jews' 
distress the Samaritans cut off their lands ; 2 and then 
under Judas Maccabeus Beth-horon is suddenly mentioned 
as a town of Judaea. 3 Proofs multiply that since Nehemiah's 
time the Jews were pushing steadily northwards. In 161 
B.C., Beth-horon, Bethel, and even Timnath Pharatho, in 
Under the * ne interior of the old Samarian territory, 4 
Maccabees. are d escr ibed as cities of Judaea. 6 By 145 the 
Jews demand from the Syrian king the transference of the 
Samaritan toparchies, Apharema, Lydda, and Ramathaim, 
to Judaea. 6 Lydda we know, Apharema is the city of 
Ephraim, five miles north-east of Bethel ; the exact site of 
Ramathaim is doubtful, but it also lay within Mount 
Ephraim. 7 Taken along with the capture of Joppa, which 
happened about the same time, this addition of Samarian 

authentic ; while the Jewish occupation of at least Lod and Ono is put past 
all doubt by their later history. None of those who helped Nehemiah in 
building the walls came from the north of Gibeon, Meronoth (?), Mizpeh 
(Neh. iii.). 

1 Schlatter {op. cit. 4, War Bcih-horon der Wohnort Sanballafs ?) seeks to 
prove, but without success, that Sanballat was neither a Samaritan nor of 
Beth-horon. 

2 Josephus xii. Antt. iv. E. 

8 Id. vii. 1. That this is not an anachronism on Josephus' part is seen from 
xiii. Antt. i. 3. 

4 On any theory as to its site, see p. 355. 
6 1 Mace. ix. 50 ; Josephus xiii. Antt. i. 3. 

6 1 Mace. xi. 28, 34 ; Josephus xiii. Antt. iv. 9. 

7 On the city of Ephraim, see p. 352. Ramathaim, 'Pafiadifi, is doubt- 
less the Ramathaim or Ramah which was Samuel's city in Mount Ephraim 
(I Samuel i. I ; other passages in which it is mentioned in I Samuel throw 
no light on its position). It has been identified with Beit-Rima, thirteen 
miles north-east of Lydda, which agrees with the description in the Onomasticon, 
art. 'kpfxadtn Sei^d, where it is identified with the Arimathea of Joseph. 



The History of a Frontier 



2 55 



territory shifted the frontier of Judaea to the line of the 
'Aujeh and Wady Deir Ballut, or the second of the three 
natural borders. 1 John Hyrcanus (135-105) overran 
Samaria ; in 64 Pompey separated it again ; 2 in 30 it fell 
to Herod the Great ; in 6 A.D. it was taken with Judaea 
from Archelaus, and put under a Roman procurator. 3 In 
41 Claudius gave it, with Judaea, to Agrippa. During all 
that time, therefore, there was no real political Under the 
frontier between Judaea and Samaria. The Romans - 
great religious difference, however, kept them apart as 
much as ever, and the necessity which was felt by the 
scrupulous Judaism of the time to distinguish heathen 
from holy soil ensured a strict drawing of their frontier. 
Josephus 4 puts the boundary at the Acrabbene toparchy, 
and again at the ' village Anuath, which is also named 
Borkeos,' and the English Survey have identified these 
with Burkit and Akrabbeh. 5 This gives the frontier along 
the most northerly of the natural borders, the Wady Ishar. 
On the Maritime Plain the Jewish Judaea ceased at the 
'Aujeh, 6 though, of course, the Roman province of Judaea 
covered the plain to the north of that, as it covered 
Samaria, and indeed had its chief town there in Caesarea. 
On the eastern side, again, the border between Samaria 

1 Unless it was that Timnath Pharatho was really Judsean, and lay at the 
head of the Wady Farah ; in that case the frontier was already at the most 
northerly of the three borders. 

2 Josephus, xiv. Antt. iii. 4, speaks of Pompey's arrival at Corea, ' which 
is the first entrance to Judoea when one passes over the midland countries ; ' 
but it is uncertain whether Josephus speaks of his own or Pompey's time, nor 
are we sure where Corea was. See p. 353. 

8 Samaritans were enrolled in the Roman forces, and probably formed 
part of the garrison in Jerusalem. See Schiirer, Jewish People in the Time 
of Christ, i. ii. p. 51. 

4 iii. Wars, Hi. 4, 5. 6 P.E.F.Q. 1881, p. 48. • Talmud. 



256 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 

and Judaea probably ran down the Wady Farah to the 
Jordan, just north of Kurn Surtabeh. 1 The northern 
boundary of Samaria was the edge of Esdraelon. 

These were practically the limits of Samaria during our 
Lord's ministry. Samaria extended from the edge of 
in the time Esdraelon to the Wady Ishar and Wady Farah, 
of Christ. anr j f rom tne j orc i an to the edge of the Maritime 
Plain, where it touched heathen territory. To go through 
Samaria, therefore, our Lord and His disciples had only 
some twenty-three miles to cover ; 2 while if they wished to 
avoid Samaria and all other unclean soil in passing from 
Galilee to Judaea, they had to cross the Jordan north of 
Bethshan, come down through the hot Jordan valley, and 
recross by one of the fords at the Wady Farah, or between 
this and Jericho. 3 The city of Ephraim, to which our Lord 
retired, was, and had been since the times of Jonathan 
Maccabeus, a city of Judaea. 4 

1 Conder, Handbook, 310, 311. Talmud (Bab. Guittin, 76a) counts 
all heathen soil between Kefr Outheni, on the edge of Esdraelon, and 
Antipatris. 

2 That is, by the present highroad from the Wady Ishar, past Sychar to 
Jenin or Engannim ; cf. Luke ix., John iv. See also Josephus, xx. Antt 
vi. 1, for a quarrel between Galilean pilgrims and Samaritan*. 

• Cf. Mark *. * John xi. 54. 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE BORDERS AND BULWARKS OF JUD^A 



Far this Chapter consult Maps I. and IK 



THE BORDERS AND BULWARKS OF JVDJEA 



WE now reach the stronghold and sanctuary of the 
land, Judaea, physically the most barren and awk- 
ward, morally the most potential and famous The Seclusion 
of all the provinces of Syria. Like her annual of J udsea - 
harvests, the historical forces of Judaea have always ripened 
a little later than those of Samaria. She had no part in 
Israel's earliest struggles for unity and freedom — indeed, 
in the record of these she is named only as a traitor 1 — nor 
did the beginnings either of the kinghood or of prophecy 
spring from her. Yet the gifts which her older sister's 
more open hands were the first to catch — and lose, were 
by her redeemed, nourished and consummated. For this 
more slow and stubborn function Judaea was prepared by 
her isolated and unattractive position, which kept her for a 
longer time than her sister out of the world's regard, and, 
when the world came, enabled her to offer a more hardy 
defence. Hence, too, sprang the defects of her virtues — 
her selfishness, provincialism and bigotry. With a few 
exceptions, due to the genius of some of her sons, who 
were inspired beyond all other Israelites, Judaea's character 
and history may be summed up in a sentence. At all 
times in which the powers of spiritual initiative or ex- 
pansion were needed, she was lacking, and so in the end 

1 Deborah's Song does not mention Judah. It was men of Judah who 
betrayed Samson to the Philistines. 

259 



260 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



came her shame. But when the times required concentra- 
tion, indifference to the world, loyalty to the past, and pas- 
sionate patriotism, then Judaea took the lead, or stood alone 
in Israel, and these virtues even rendered brilliant the 
hopeless, insane struggles of her end. Judaea was the seat 
of the one enduring dynasty of Israel, the site of their 
temple, the platform of all their chief prophets. After their 
great Exile they rallied round her capital, and centuries 
later they expended upon her fortresses the last efforts of 
their freedom. From the day when the land was taken 
in pledge by the dust of the patriarchs, till the remnant of 
the garrison of Jerusalem slaughtered themselves out at 
Masada, rather than fall into Roman hands, or till at 
Bether the very last revolt was crushed by Hadrian, Judaea 
was the birthplace, the stronghold, the sepulchre of God's 
people. It is, therefore, not wonderful that they should 
have won from it the name which is now more frequent 
than either their ancestral designation of Hebrews or their 
sacred title of Israel. 

For us Christians it is enough to remember, besides, that 
Judaea contains the places of our Lord's Birth and Death, 
with the scenes of His Temptation, His more painful 
Ministry, and His Agony. 

Judaea is very small. Even when you extend the sur- 
face to the promised border at the sea, and include all of it 
that is desert, it does not amount to more than 

Her smallness. , . _ _ 

2000 square miles, or the size of one of our 
average counties. 1 But Judaea, in the days of its indepen- 
dence, never covered the whole Maritime Plain ; and even 

1 Aberdeenshire is 1955 square miles; Perth, 2528; Cumberland, 1516; 
Northumberland, 2015 ; Norfolk, 2017 ; Essex, 1413 ; Kent, 1515 ; Somerset, 
1659 ; and Devon, 2015. 



The Borders and Bulwarks of Judcza 261 



the Shephelah, as we have seen, was frequently beyond it. 
Apart from Shephelah and Plain, Judaea was a region 
55 miles long, from Bethel to Beersheba, and from 25 to 
30 broad, or about 1350 square miles, of which nearly the 
half was desert 

It ought not to be difficult to convey an adequate im- 
pression of so small and so separate a province. The 
centre is a high and broken table-land from two to three 
thousand feet above the sea, perhaps thirty-five miles long 
by twelve to seventeen broad. 1 You will almost cover it 
by one sweep of the eye. But surrounding this centre 
are borders and bulwarks of extraordinary Her 
variety and intricacy ; and as it is they which border s. 
have so largely made the history of the land and the 
culture of its inhabitants, it will be better for us to survey 
them, before we come to the little featureless plateau, 
which they so lift and isolate from the rest of the world. 
We begin with the most important of them — the Eastern. 

I. East.— The Great Gulf with Jericho and 
Engedi. The Entrance of Israel. 

You cannot live in Judaea without being daily aware of 
the presence of the awful deep which bounds it on the 
east — the lower Jordan Valley and Dead Sea. The Dead Sea 
From Bethel, from Jerusalem, from Bethlehem, Valley, 
from Tekoa, from the heights above Hebron, and from 
fifty points between, you look down into that deep : and 

1 From the centre of the Wady Ali to the eastern base of the Mount of 
Olives (1520 feet above the sea) is fourteen miles. From the Wady en Najil 
on the Shephelah border to the descent from the plateau east of Mar Saba is 
about seventeen miles ; and a line across Hebron from edge to edge of the 
plateau gives about fourteen miles. 



262 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



you feel Judaea rising from it about you almost as a sailor 
feels his narrow deck or a sentinel the sharp-edged platform 
of his high fortress. From the hard limestone of the range 
on which you stand, the land sinks swiftly and, as it seems, 
shuddering through softer formations, desert and chaotic, 
to a depth of which you cannot see the bottom — but you 
know that it falls far below the level of the ocean — to the 
coasts of a bitter sea. Across this emptiness rise the hills 
of Moab, high and precipitous, and it is their bare edge, 
almost unbroken, and with nothing visible beyond save a 
castle or a crag, which forms the eastern horizon of Judaea. 
The simple name by which that horizon was known to the 
Jews — The Mountains of the Other-side, or the Mountains 
of Those-Across 1 — is more expressive than anything else 
could be of the great vacancy between. The depth, the 
haggard desert through which the land sinks into it, the 
singularity of that gulf and its prisoned sea, and the high 
barrier beyond, conspire to produce on the inhabitants of 
Judaea a moral effect such as, I suppose, is created by no 
other frontier in the world. 

It was only, however, when we had crossed into Moab that 
we fully appreciated the significance of that frontier in the 
history of God's separated people. The table- 
MoS^a d land to the east of the Dead Sea is about the 
contrast. same height as the table-land of Judaea to the 
west, and is of almost exactly the same physical formation. 
On both of them are landscapes from which it would be 
impossible for you to gather whether you were in Judaea 
or in Moab — impossible but for one thing, the feeling of 
what you have to the east of you. To the east of Judaea 
there is that great gulf fixed. But Moab to the east rolls 

1 onay nn or 



The Borders and Bulwarks of Judcea 263 



off imperceptibly to Arabia : a few low hills, and no river 
or valley, are all that lies between her pastures and the 
great deserts, out of which, in every age, wild and hungry 
tribes have been ready to swarm. Moab is open to the 
east ; Judah, or Judaea, with the same formation, and im- 
posing the same habits of life on a kindred stock of men, 
has a great gulf between herself and the east. In this fact 
lies a very large part of the reason why she was chosen as 
the home of God's peculiar people. 

The Wilderness of Judaea, which Is piled up from the 
beach of the Dead Sea to the very edge of the Central 
Plateau, may be reserved for later treatment 

Passes through 

Here it is only needful to ask what passes the wilderness 

of Tudssci* 

break up through it to the centre of the pro- 
vince ? The answer is, that passes, strictly so called, do 
not exist There are many gorges torn by winter torrents 
— between Jericho and Jebel Usdum at the south end of 
the Dead Sea there cannot be fewer than twenty — but all 
are too narrow and crooked to carry roads. Of real gate- 
ways and roads into Judaea there are on this border only 
five : and these are obviously determined not by lines 
of valley, but by another feature which in this region is far 
more indispensable to roads. That is the presence of an 
oasis. The roads from the east into Judaea have to cross, 
for from five to eight hours, a waterless desert ; it is neces- 
sary, therefore, that they start from the few well-watered 
spots on its eastern edge. There are practically only 
three of these : Jericho, 'Ain Feshkah, some ten miles 
south, and 'Ain Jidi, or Engedi, eighteen miles further. 
From Jericho there start into Judaea three roads, from 
Ain Feshkah one, and from Engedi one. 
The roads from Jericho — north-west to Ai and Bethel, 



264 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



south-west to Jerusalem, and south-south-west to the Lower 
Kedron and Bethlehem — do not keep to any line of valley ; 
Roads up f° r > as nas been said, this flank of Judaea is 
from Jericho. cut on iy D y ^ggp gorges, but for the most part 
they follow the ridges between the latter. The most 
northerly of these three routes into Judaea 1 ascends behind 
Jericho to the ridge north of the Kelt, follows it to Mich- 
mash, and so by Ai to Bethel. This is evidently an ancient 
road, and was probably the trade route between the Lower 
Jordan and the coast, both in ancient and mediaeval times. 2 
It is the line of Israel's first invasion, described in the 
seventh and eighth chapters of Joshua ; and its fitness for 
that is obvious, for it is open, and leads on to a broad 
plateau in the centre of the country. The middle route of 
the three is now the ordinary road from Jerusalem to 
Jericho. It is impossible to think that an invading army 
fearing opposition ever attempted its higher end. 3 But it 
is the shortest road from Jericho to Jerusalem, and there- 
fore the usual pilgrim route in both directions. Pereans 
and Galileans came up to the Temple by it : it was the path 
of our Lord and His disciples, when He set His face stead- 
fastly towards Jerusalem ; and from then till now it has 
been trodden in the opposite direction by pilgrims from all 
lands to the scene of His baptism. When taken upwards, 
a more hot and heavy way it is impossible to conceive — 
between blistered limestone rocks, and in front the bare 
hills piled high, without shadow or verdure. There is no 

1 More northerly still a road goes up from Jericho by the first pass into the 
more open Mount Ephraim. Its course is marked by Roman pavement past 
'Ain ed Duk, round Umm Sirah, and up the Wady Taiyibeh to et Taiyibeh, the 
Biblical city of Ephraim. See p. 352. 2 See p. 177. 

8 Pompey may have come this way, but more probably approached Jeru 
salem from the north : Josephus, xiv. Antt. iv. 1. 



The Borders and Bzdwarks of Judcea 



265 



water from Jericho till you reach the roots of the Mount of 
Olives. 1 Curious red streaks appear from time to time on 
the stone, and perhaps account for the sanguinary names 
which attach to the road — the present Red Khan, the 
Chastel Rouge of the Crusaders, and the Tala'at ed Dumm 
or Ascent of Blood 2 — but the crimes committed here make 
these doubly deserved. The surrounding Arabs have 
always found the pilgrims a profitable prey. The third 
road 3 from Jericho leaves the 'Arabah about five miles 
south of Jericho, and, coming up by El Muntar, crosses the 
Kedron near Mar Saba. Thence one branch strikes north- 
west to Jerusalem, and another south-west to Bethlehem ; 
before they separate they are joined by a road from 'Ain 
Feshkah, the large oasis ten miles south of Road from 
Jericho, on the Dead Sea coast. We are not cer- ' Ain Feshkah - 
tain of any invasion of Judaea by these avenues, unless Judah 
and Simeon went up by one of them at the first occupation 
of the land. 4 But one or other was undoubtedly the road by 
which Naomi brought Ruth, and down which David took 
his family to the King of Moab. 5 This double connection 
of Bethlehem with Moab comes back to you as you ride 
along these roads with the cliffs of Moab in sight. Moab 
is visible from Bethlehem : when Ruth lifted her eyes from 

1 'Ain Haud or 'Ain Shems, the Enshemesh of Josh. xv. 7. 

2 Khan el Ahmar, one of the sites for the Inn of the Good Samaritan 
(St. Luke x. 34). Tala'at ed Dumm is applied to a hill and fortress north-east 
of the Khan, and to the wady which the road pursues thence towards Jericho. 
It is doubtless the ancient Ma'aleh Adummim (Josh. xv. 7, xviii. 17) on 
the border between Judah and Benjamin. The fortress was the Crusaders' 
Chastel Rouge (Murray's Guide wrongly Tour Rouge, which stood near 
Csesarea), or Citerne Rouge, built by the Templars for the succour of pilgrims, 
and also called la Tour Maledoln. Rey, Colonies Franques, 387. 

* There is really a fourth between our second and third, which passes thf 
Mohammedan place of pilgrimage, Neby Musa. 

* Judges i. 3 ff. 6 1 Sam. xxii. 3, 4. 



266 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



gleaning in the fields of Boaz, she saw her native land ovei 
against her. 

These roads then debouch from the Judaean hills, and 
join at a little distance above the end of the Dead Sea. 

Fords of Opposite their junction two fords cross the 

Jordan. Jordan, 1 which are by no means so easy as the 
numerous fords opposite Mount Ephraim, yet are passable 
for most of the year, and on the other side meet highways 
from Gilead and Moab. A road also comes down the 
'Arabah on the west of Jordan, and another from Mount 
Ephraim by 'Ain ed Duk. 

Follow these roads, passes, and fords to where they meet 
at the foot of the Judaean hills ; observe the streams breaking 
from the hill-foot at their junction, and render- 
ing possible an elaborate irrigation. Then, 
where now but a few hovels and a tower on the edge of a 
swamp mock your imagination, you will see a strong and 
stately city rise in the midst of a wonderful fertility of 
grove and garden. Jericho was the gateway of a province, 
the emporium of a large trade, the mistress of a great palm 
forest, woods of balsam, and very rich gardens. To earliest 
Israel she was the City of Palms; 2 to the latest Jewish 
historian ' a divine region/ ' fattest of Judaea.' 3 Greeks 
and Romans spread her fame, with her dates and balsam, 
all over the world, and great revenue was derived from 
Jier. 4 Her year is one long summer ; she can soak herself 

1 The Makhadet el Hajlah (near El Hajlah, the ancient Beth-hoglah, 
Josh. xv. 6, xviii. 19, 21) and the Makh. el Henu. 

2 Deut. xxxiv. 3 ; Judges i. 16, iii. 13 ; 2 Chron. xxviii. 15. 

3 Josephus, iv. Wars, viii. 3 ; i. Wars, vi. 6. Cf. iv. Antt. vi. I ; xiv. Antt 
iv. I ; xv. Anti. iv. 2 ; i. Wars, xviii. 5. 

4 Strabo, xvi. 2. 41. According to this, the palm forest was a hundred 
stadia. Diod. Siculus, ii. 48. 9 ; cf. xix. 98. 4. Pliny, Hist. Nat. xiii. 4, who 
says that the finest dates are those of Jericho, and notes that they are grown 



The Borders and Bulwarks of Judcea 267 



in water, and the chemicals with which her soil is charged 
seem to favour her peculiar products. Like Bethshan, she 
can make a swamp about her ; five miles in front is a river, 
which, if she oppose, cannot be crossed ; and immediately 
behind are her own hills, with half a dozen possible citadels. 
Jericho is thus a city surrounded by resources. Her 
Yet in war she has always been easily taken. weaknes s. 
That her walls fell down at the sound of Joshua's trumpets 

in salt soil. Other Greek and Latin writers mention Tericho and its fruits ; 
cf. Horace, Epistles, ii. 2. 184 : ' Herodis palmetis pinguibus.' Mark Antony 
had given the region to Cleopatra, and Herod farmed it of her (xv. Antt. iv. 2 ; 

i. Wars, xviii. 5); but in 30 B.C. , by gift of Augustus, he got it to himself 
(xv. Antt. vii. 3 ; i. Wars, xx. 3). He built there a palace, which Archelaus 
rebuilt, baths and theatres. He fortified a citadel on the hill behind the city, 
and called it Kypros, after his mother (xvi. Antt. v. 2 ; i. Wars, xxi. 4, 9 ; 

ii. Wars, xviii. 6). It is probably the present ruin Beit-Gubr or Qubr. Herod 
lived much and died in Jericho. In our Lord's time, Jericho was directly 
under the Romans, who farmed its revenues. See Pressel's Priscilla an 
Sabina, a book in the form of letters from a Roman lady in Jericho, on the 
imperial farms, to her friend at home, which gives a very vivid idea of the 
country at that time. Zaccheus was either connected with the imperial farms, 
or sat in this border town at receipt of custom — more probably the former, 
since he proposed to restore the money he had exacted, a task impossible to a 
mere toll-keeper with a passenger constituency. In Josephus' time, as we 
have seen, the region still flourished. In the fourth century there were many 
palms ('Descriptio Orbis Totius,' Mliller, Geogr. Grceci Minores,\\. 513). The 
Christian population was mainly of monks and anchorites, with keepers of 
inns for pilgrims ; and under these influences cultivation seems to have 
declined. In the seventh century Adamnan, and in the eighth another, 
still saw palm groves ; but at the Moslem invasion the town was deserted. 
The Saracens revived the culture, and introduced sugar, which the Crusaders 
found growing (Rey, Col. Franques, etc., 248). There are ruins still called 
Tawahin-ez-Zukker, 'sugar-mills,' not far from the fount of Elisha. The 
revenues were great (Will, of Tyre, xv. 27) at the time of the Latin kingdom. 
There were still palms. From the Crusades onwards, the place was more 
and more neglected, till it was reduced to its present pitiful condition. The 
last palm was seen by Robinson in 1838 ; it is now gone. The present village 
occupies the site neither of the Old Testament nor of the New Testament 
Jericho. The former lay round 'Ain es Sultan ; the latter to the south of 
this, on the Wady Kelt. Robinson, Bib. Res. i. Cf. Zschokke, Topographit 
der wcstlichen Jordans'au, Terusalem, 1866. 



268 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



is no exaggeration, but the soberest summary of all hei 
history. Judaea could never keep her. She fell to Northern 
Israel till Northern Israel perished. 1 She fell to Bacchides 
and the Syrians. 2 She fell to Aristobulus when he advanced 
on his brother Hyrcanus and Judaea. 3 She fell without a 
blow to Pompey, 4 and at the approach of Herod and again 
of Vespasian her people deserted her. 5 It is also interesting 
to note that three invaders of Judaea — Bacchides, Pompey, 
and Vespasian — took Jericho before they attempted Jeru- 
salem, although she did not lie upon their way to the 
latter, and that they fortified her, not, it is to be supposed, 
as a base of operations, so much as a source of supplies. 
This weakness of Jericho was due to two causes. An 
open pass came down on her from Northern Israel, and 
from this both part of her water supply could be cut off, 
and the hills behind her could be occupied. But besides 
this, her people seem never to have been distinguished for 
bravery ; and, indeed, in that climate, how could they ? 
Enervated by the great heat, which degrades all the 
inhabitants of the Ghor, and unable to endure on their 
bodies aught but linen, 6 it was impossible they could be 
warriors, or anything but irrigators, paddlers in water and 
soft earth. We forget how near neighbours they had been 
to Sodom and Gomorrah. No great man was born in 
Jericho ; no heroic deed was ever done in her. She has 
been called ( the key ' and 1 the guardhouse ' of Judaea ; she 
was only the pantry. She never stood a siege, and her 
inhabitants were always running away. 

1 See last chapter. 2 i Mace. ix. 50-53 ; xiii. Antt. i. 3. 

* xiv. Antt. i. 2 ; cf. xiii. ; ib. xvi. 3. 

* xiv. Antt. iv. I. 6 xiv. Antt. xv. 3 ; iv. Wars, viii. 2, ix. r. 
6 iv. Wars, viii. 3. 



The Borders and Bulwarks of Judcea 269 



The next road from the East into Judah is that which 
leads up through the wilderness from Engedi. 1 The oasis 

of Engedi itself is the cause of this road, for 

11. 1 r The Pass 

there are other gorges breaking upwards from 

the Dead Sea, which are not so difficult as the rocky stair 

that climbs from it. Here again we see what we saw at 

Jericho, and to a less degree at *Ain Feshkah — that on this 

side of Judaea the presence of water and of gardens is more 

necessary to a road than any open pass. 

He who has been to Engedi will always fear lest he 

exaggerate its fertility to those who have not. The oasis 

bursts upon him from one of the driest and an( j Q as j s 

most poisoned regions of our planet. Either ofEn g edl - 

he has ridden across Jeshimon, seven hours without a 

water-spring, three with hardly a bush, when suddenly, 

over the edge of a precipice, 400 feet below him, he sees a 

river of verdure burst from the rock, and scatter itself, 

reeds, bush, trees and grass, down other 300 feet to a 

broad mile of gardens by the beach of the blue sea ; or he 

has come along the coast, through evil sulphur smells, 2 

with the bitter sea on one side, the cliffs of the desert on 

the other, and a fiery sun overhead, when round a corner 

of the cliffs he sees the same broad fan of verdure open 

and slope before him. He passes up it, through gardens 

of cucumber and melon, small fields of wheat, and a 

scattered orchard, to a brake of reeds and high bushes, 

with a few great trees. He hears what, perhaps, he has 

not heard for days — the rush of water ; and then through 

1 'The well of the wild goat modern name, 'Ain-JidL' 
a South of Engedi we failed to find Tristram's hot sulphur springs where 
they are marked on the Survey Map, but the sulphurous smell was very appa- 
rent, and the gravel badly stained. Heat 94° in shade of thorn-bush, in spite 
of a strong breeze. 



270 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



the bush he sees the foam of a little waterspout, six feet 
high and almost two broad, which is only one branch of a 
pure, fresh stream that breaks from some boulders above 
on the shelf at the foot of the precipices. The verdure and 
water, so strange and sudden, with the exhilaration of the 
great view across the sea, produce the most generous 
impressions of this oasis, and tempt to the exaggeration 
of its fertility. The most enthusiastic, however, could not 
too highly rate its usefulness as a refuge, for it lies at the 
back of a broad desert, and is large enough to sustain an 
army. Its own caves are insignificant, but in the neigh- 
bourhood there is one 'vast grotto.' 1 More obvious are 
the sites of ancient 1 strongholds,' such as David built ; and 
over the neighbourhood of the stream are scattered the 
ruins of masonry — remains of the town which Solomon 
perhaps fortified, 2 which was the centre of a toparchy 
under the Romans, 3 still a large village in the fourth 
century, 4 and during the Crusades gathered round a con- 

* Guided by a negro slave of the Rushaideh Arabs, who own and cultivate 
the oasis, I searched for caves. There is a tiny one on the terrace, where the 
water springs, and three more lower down, almost on the level of the plain. 
According to my guide, these were all the caves. None of them was large 
enough to have been the scene of such a story as I Sam. xxiv. The strong- 
holds of David (xxiii. 29, and xxiv. 22) must have lain by the water, and the 
cave is described below them (xxiv. 22). Tristram {Land of Israel, p. 286) 
describes 'a fairy grotto of vast size.' 

8 In t Kings ix. 18, the Hebrew text reads Tamar, while the Hebrew 
margin and 2 Chron. viii. 4 read Tadmor. The latter is evidently not correct, 
for the town is described as in the wilderness in the land. Tamar, therefore, 
must be sought for somewhere in the wilderness of Judaea, and where more 
suitably than in this frontier village of Hazazon Tamar ? Perhaps the Tamar 
of Ezek. xlvii. 19, xlviii. 28, is the same place. 

3 Josephus, iii. Wars, iii. 5, but omitted by Pliny in his list of the toparchies, 
Hist. Nat. v. 14. 70. 

4 Eusebius, Onomast. , art. 'EyyaSSi : koX vvv icrl Ktofii] /xeylarr) 'lovdalwv. 
Both Eusebius and Jerome place it vaguely in the wilderness, in the Aulon, 
or Plain of Jericho, and on the Dead Sea. Cf. Ptolemy, v. 16. 8. 



The Borders and Bulwarks of J udcea 271 



vent, with vineyards celebrated all through Syria. 1 In 
ancient times Engedi was also famous, like Jericho, for its 
palms and balsam. 2 From the former it derived one of 
its names, Hazazon-Tamar — ' Hazazon of the Palm ' — but 
this tree has now disappeared as wholly as the vine. If 
we thus feel the fitness of Engedi for a refuge, we can also 
appreciate why it should rank only second to Jericho as a 
gateway into Judaea and a source of supplies for the march 
through the wilderness behind. The way up from it is 
very steep. It is not a pass so much as a staircase, which 
has had partly to be hewn and partly to be built over the 
rocks. 3 When you have climbed it, you stand on a rolling 
plateau. The road breaks into two branches, R 0ads i mand 
both of them covered in parts with ancient from En s edi - 
pavement. One turns away north-west by the Wady 
Husaseh — in which name the first part of Hazazon-Tamar, 
perhaps, survives — to Herod's castle of Herodeion, Beth- 
lehem and Jerusalem. It is a wild, extremely difficult 
road, and almost never used by caravans. 4 The other 
branch turns south-west to Yuttah and Hebron. 6 This 
is the proper route from Engedi into Judaea. As the roads 
from Jericho make for Bethel or Jerusalem, so this from 
Engedi makes for Hebron. Hebron and Engedi have 

1 Rey, Colonies Franques, 384. It was under Hebron. 'J'y ai retrouve 
en 1858,' says Rey, ' des restes de constructions medisevales. ' Scott it will 
be remembered, places here one of the episodes of the Talisman. 

2 Josephus, ix. Antt. i. 2. 

8 This staircase is only some 500 feet, but, owing to its steepness ar.d 
narrowness, which allow the animals of a caravan to convey up it only a 
fraction of their usual burdens, our mules took two hours to bring our 
baggage up. 

4 The salt-carriers from Jebel Usdum to Jerusalem seem, from answers 
they made to our inquiries, to prefer to go on further north, before turning 
up to Jerusalem. 

5 For a full description, see Robinson, Bib. Res, ii. pp. 209 ff. 



272 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



always been closely connected. David came down to 
Engedi from the Hebron neighbourhood, and the Crusad- 
ing convent of Engedi was under the Bishop of Saint 
Abraham. 1 

In the reign of Jehoshaphat, the Moabites and Ammon- 
ites, with other allies, invaded Judaea by Engedi 2 — a route 
The Valley which they chose, not necessarily because they 
of Blessing. had come roun d t h e south of the Dead Sea, 
but because Jericho at this time belonged not to Judaea 
but to Israel. From Engedi they followed neither of the 
roads just described, but struck up between them, through 
the wilderness of Tekoa, towards the village of this name. 
It is not a difficult route for an army — certainly less steep 
than any other part of the approach to the Central Plateau 
from the desert. 3 They came by the ascent of Ziz. Jeho- 
shaphat went out to meet them in the wilderness of feruel^ 
but found them already slaughtered and dispersed in a 
valley, which was therefore called by the relieved Judaeans 
Berachah, or * Blessing.' All these places are as unknown 
as the agents of the mysterious slaughter. The latter is 
said to have been effected by ambushments y and truly, in 
that tangle of low hills and narrow water-courses, enough 
men might hide to surprise and overcome a large army. 
The Bedouin camps are unseen till you are just upon 
them, and the bare banks of a gully, up the torrent-bed 
of which a caravan is painfully making its way, may be 
dotted in two minutes with armed men. 4 It was probably 

1 The Crusaders' name for Hebron. See Rey, loc. cit. 
* 2 Chron. xx. 

8 We followed it, for the sake of our mules, in preference to the rough road 
towards Bethlehem. 

4 We had experience of this on our way from Engedi to Tekoa. In the 
afternoon we w*r<» coming ud a long winding gully, with no living creature in 



The Borders and Bulwarks of Judcea 273 



some desert tribes which thus overcame Jehoshaphat's 
enemies before he arrived. The narrative is very obscure, 
but through it we can clearly see the characteristics of this 
region — the tangled hills, the ambushes, the sudden sur- 
prise, the bare valley strewn with the slain and their spoil. 

South of Engedi, on the dreary desert as it falls to the 
precipices of the Dead Sea, the traveller still comes across 
traces of a great military road. We found The road 
these fragments in a line making straight for from Masada - 
the edge of the precipice above Masada, but how they had 
been continued down the cliff we could not discover. It 
had been a road suitable for wheeled vehicles, but now 
even mules can scarcely descend to Masada. This road 
has for our present task no importance. It was not an 
entrance to the land, but a purely inland passage con- 
necting the Herodian fortresses of Masada and Herodium. 

I have purposely refrained till now from touching upon 
Israel's entrance into Western Palestine, which The incoming 
took, place across this border. But, after what of Israe1, 
we have just seen, we are in a position to judge how far 
the geography of the latter corresponds to the narratives 
in Joshua and Judges. These narratives are compiled 
from several sources, which, on some points, differ in 
their testimony. 1 But they agree as to their main facts : 



sight save a shepherd on a height at a distance. He gave a cry, which was 
answered from a farther hill, and, in an incredibly short time, we were sur- 
rounded by armed and yelling Arabs, on foot and horseback. They belonged 
to the Rushaideh tribe, and the cause of their anger was that we had taken as 
guides through their land some of the Jahalin. We invited the chiefs to 
dinner at Tekoa, paid two dollars for toll, and were not further troubled. 

1 For instance, as to the origin of the name Gilgal. On the other hand, it 
is an open question whether we find such a difference, amounting to a contra- 
diction, between Josh. vi. 24-27, which belongs to the great document of 
the Hexateuch, T E„ and relates how Israel burnt Jericho and all that was 

S 



274 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



that Israel's invasion of Western Palestine was effected 
by the nation as a whole, and under the leadership of 
Joshua ; that it was an invasion by siege and battle, that 
the crossing of the Jordan took place near Jericho, that 
Jericho was the first town taken from the Canaanites, that 
Joshua set the central camp at Gilgal, and that thence 
Israel divided into two branches, one of which — Judah and 
Simeon with the Kenites — attacked Central and Southern 
Judaea, but the other, the House of Joseph under Joshua, 
went up to Ai, Bethel, and Mount Ephraim. 

The truth of this narrative of Israel's invasion has been 
denied in almost every particular by Stade, who maintains 
Stade's tnat a ^ I srae l did not invade Western Palestine 
Theories. at one ti me> Joshua did not lead them, 

that they did not wage war on the Canaanites, and that 
they did not cross in the region of Jericho. There will be 
found, in an Appendix to this volume, an attempt to show 
the baselessness of the presuppositions from which Stade 
starts this theory, — so singularly opposed to the only 
traditions we possess on the subject, — and there will also 
be found detailed objections to his arguments. 1 Here it is 
sufficient to point out how the evidence of the geography 
we have just been surveying is — as far as it can go — 

therein, and Joshua cursed the rebuilder of it (a curse of which I Kings xvi. 
34 narrates the fulfilment), and Judges iii. 13, from a different document, 
which tells how Eglon of Moab smote Israel and possessed the City of Palm- 
trees. Of course, it is possible to attempt to solve this apparent contradic- 
tion by emphasising the fact that Jericho has changed its site more than once ; 
and that Judges iii. 13 speaks of a Jericho which had risen on another site 
from that cursed by Joshua. But there is no sign of this, and, on the data 
before us, it seems more probable that the writer of Judges iii. 13 was un- 
acquainted with the facts in Joshua vi. 24-27. 

1 See Appendix II. Joshua's historical reality is supported by the fact that 
he is mentioned not only in Document E, as Stade avers, but in Document J 
as well. 



The Borders and Bulwarks of Judcea 275 



against Stade's theory, and in harmony with the main lines 
of the biblical narrative. Let us bear in mind the limits 
of geographical evidence. It cannot absolutely prove a nar- 
rative to be correct, but if its data agree with the line the 
narrative takes, especially if the narrative (like the one 
before us) has come down along several lines of tradition, 
it must create a great presumption in favour of the narra- 
tive. Again, it may prove other and rival versions of the 
events, which the narrative describes, to be improbable or 
even absurd, and in that case, of course, it lends the 
narrative itself additional support. This is what geo- 
graphy does in the issue between Stade's theory and the 
biblical account of Israel's invasion of Western Palestine. 
Stade's theory fits the geographical conditions neither on 
the east bank nor on the west bank of Jordan. 

Stade declares that Israel cannot have crossed at Jericho, 
because the Plain of Shittim opposite Jericho then be- 
longed to Moab ; but it is generally admitted, And the 
even by critics most in sympathy with Stade, 1 Geography, 
that Moab was at the time south of the Arnon, and that 
Israel occupied all to the north of this. It is true that later 
on Moab did hold the country opposite Jericho, but this 
proves that the tradition that Israel crossed there could 
not have arisen at the late date to which Stade assigns it. 
Again, when he maintains that Israel could not have 
beaten the Canaanites in war on the Plain of Jordan, we 
must point to the singular fact we have already shown, 
that Jericho never did stand a siege all down her history. 
But the strongest argument against Stade's theory lies in 
the double direction which the invasion is said to have 
taken from Jericho. All agree that Israel won a footing 

1 E.g., Wellhausen, Hist. p. 5. 



276 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



on two parts of the Central Range — Mount Ephraim and 
the part opposite the Dead Sea — between which there lay 
for some time a belt of Canaanite country. But from 
what centre except Jericho could these separate positions 
be equally reached ? Certainly not from the Jabbok ; it is 
almost inconceivable that if Judah crossed at the Jabbok, 
as, according to Stade, the rest of the tribes did, 1 she 
fought her wars so far south as the Negeb of Judaea. 

On the other hand, the main lines of the biblical narra- 
tive are in harmony with the geographical data. The 
The Biblical crossing of Jericho is a possible and a likely 
anTthe V Geo- thing : 2 the quick conquest of Jericho is in 
graphy. harmony with all we have learned of that city's 
physical characteristics and her failure throughout history 
to stand any siege ; 3 the double direction of the sub- 
sequent invasion, north-west and south-west, agrees 
absolutely with the position of the standing camp of Israel 
near Jericho at Gilgal, and with the lines of road which we 
have been following from Jericho to the interior ; while, 
finally, the return of Joshua to Gilgal after the first con- 
quests on the Central Range, 4 and the authority which, it 
is to be presumed, Israel continued to exercise from 
Gilgal upon the Central Range, has an interesting analogy 

1 It has been thought by some that Judah did not enter Palestine across 
the Jordan with the rest of the tribes, but, along with the Kenites, came up 
from Kadesh through the Negeb. Stade will not allow more than a perhaps 
to this theory {Gesck. 132 ; he says nothing of it in his account of Judah 
157-160). Oort has adopted it in his Atlas. But every geographical indication 
goes to show that Judah entered her territory from the north, her first seats 
being Bethlehem and Baal-Judah (Kiriath Jearim), and that only later did she 
come south to Hebron. 

2 Meyer, whose analysis of the Documents {Z A T PP, I.) is unsparing 
firmly believes in this part of the narrative. 

8 The bulk of Joshua iv., describing the fall of Jericho, belongs to the twc 
oldest documents J E. 4 Josh. x. 43. 



The Borders and Bulwarks of Judcea 277 



in the description (from the same source) 1 of the district of 
Gilgal, as a centre of Canaanite authority over the Central 
Range before Israel's time ; while both facts are seen to 
be perfectly possible in face of the open passes that lead up 
from this part of the Jordan Valley into Mount Ephraim. 

The route by which Judah and Simeon went up to their 
lots' 1 cannot, of course, be definitely traced by us. But we 
may notice that two of the most ancient settle- 

The entrance 

ments of Judah — Bethlehem and Hebron 3 — ofjudahand 

Simeon. 

correspond to the two great routes from the 
Jordan Valley into Central Judaea, by 'Ain Feshkah and 
Engedi. With them went up the nomadic tribe which at 
Sinai had attached itself to the fortunes of Israel. And 
the sons of Hobab, the Kenite, brother-in-lazv of Moses ; went 
up out of the Town of Palms with the children 

J- T 7 ' '7 7 r The KeniteS - 

of Judah into the wilderness of Judah at the 

going down of Arad, and they went and dwelt with the 

Amalekite} That is to say, while the main Judaean stock 

1 I>eut. xi. 30, which is from the same hand as Josh. x. 43. 

2 Judges i. Meyer and Budde have shown the true course and connection 
of this chapter (mainly from J). See Budde, Ri. u. Sam. 1-24, 84-89. 

1 Judges i. 3-1 1. 

4 Judges i. 16. The corrupt Hebrew text must be amended in some such 
way as above. See Meyer and Hollenberg {Z A T W t I.). Budde, Ri. u. Sam. 
9- 1 1 and 86, Kittel, Gesch. 242, 243. There is no reason to omit sons of as 
Budde does ; it is justified by different LXX. sources, and the passage, from 
the plural verb in the first clause to the singular verbs in the second, need give 
no trouble. That a proper name has fallen out of the Hebrew text is obvious. 
Brother-in-law needs it, and LXX. mss. give us a choice of two, of which 
Hobab is to be preferred in this J Document. Kittel is right in rejecting 
Meyer's suggestion of and Qain. The going down of Arad, LXX. (Vatican 
text) is to be preferred to the Massoretic Negeb or south of Arad, for, as Budde 
says, if Arad is in the wilderness of Judah, it cannot be connected with the 
Negeb. In v. 17, Budde and Kittel rightly retain Arad. All agree with 
Hollenberg that DyH people must read ptajjn 'Amalek or Budde more cor- 
rectly the Amalekite. The LXX. has 'Amalek, and the reading is in 
conformity with I Sam. xv. 5 f£ 



278 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



settled on the arable ground, and in cities, and inter- 
married with the Canaanites, the Kenites, true to their 
nomadic origin, turned into the wilderness of Judah, and 
dwelt with the Amalekites. The going down of Arad is 
the south-eastern buttress of the Judaean plateau, at the 
head of the gorge which runs up from Masada, the Wady 
S eyy al. The name Arad still exists there seventeen miles 
south-east of Hebron. The rocky dwelling of the Kenite, 
visible from Nebo, 1 cannot be strictly identified. It is 
probably not the heights of Yekin, to which it has been 
assigned, 2 for those are not sufficiently in the desert. 
Engedi itself is possible. The stronghold and oasis must 
have been in possession of somebody : to-day they are 
owned and cultivated by the Rushaideh, a Bedawee tribe 
like the Kenites. 

II. The Southern Border: the Negeb. 

The survey of the southern border of Judaea leads us 
out upon a region of immense extent and of great historical 
interest — the Negeb, translated The South in our version, 3 

1 Num. xxiv. 21 ff. 

2 P.E.F. Red. Map, 1891. Henderson, p. 71. The name has no real 
similarity. 

3 E.g., Gen. xiii. 1 ; 1 Sam. xxx. 1 ; Ps. cxxvi. 4. The Negeb extended 
from the Arabah to the coast, and was variously named according to the 
people on the north of it. There was the TllSH "J, or the part to the south 
of Philistia ; ^KBrrVil '% south of the Shephelah ; J?2 % south of Hebron 
(there is a W. elKulab about ten miles south-west of Hebron); the rHin^ 3 or 

"l^X, which covered the same central portion, and the "Opn 3 which 
was the eastmost part to the south of the seats of the Kenites (1 Sam. xxvii. 
10, xxx. 14, 2 Sam. xxiv. 7). It is once used for Judah, Ezek. xxi. 2 f. (Heb. ) ; 
in the Book of Daniel it stands for Egypt, viii. 9, xi. 5 ff. As D* 1 Sea is used in 
Palestine for the West, so Negeb came to be used generically for the South ; 
the south border, Josh. xv. 2, 4, xviii. 19 ; south of Gennesareth, Josh. xi. 2, 
cf. Zech. xiv. 10. The name occurs several times on the Egyptian monu- 
ments : W. Max Muller, Asicn u. EuroJ>a nach. altagypt. Dcnkm.. 148. 



The Borders and Bulwarks of Judcea 279 



but literally meaning the Dry or Parched Land. The 
character and the story of the Negeb require a separate 
study : here we are concerned with it only as the southern 
border of Judaea. 

From Hebron the Central Range lets itself slowly down 
by broad undulations, through which the great Wady 
Khulil 1 winds as far as Beersheba, and then, „ 

' ' Between 

as Wady es-Seba, turns sharply to the west, Hebron and 

. Beersheba. 

finding the sea near Gaza. It is a country 
visited by annual rains, with at least a few perennial 
springs, and in the early summer abundance of flowers 
and corn. We descended from Hebron to Dhaheriyah, 
probably the site of Kiriath Sepher, over moors and 
through wheat-fields, arranged in the narrower wadies in 
careful terraces, but lavishly spread over many of the 
broader valleys. A thick scrub covered most of the 
slopes. There were olive groves about the villages, but 
elsewhere few trees. We passed a stream and four 
springs, 2 two with tracts of marshy ground, and, though it 
was the end of April, some heavy showers fell. South of 
Dhaheriyah — which may be regarded as the frontier town 
between the hill-country and the Negeb 3 — the soil is more 

1 El-Khultl, ' the friend,' that is, of God, a title of Abraham, is also the 
modern name of his city, Hebron, near which the Wady starts. 

2 On either side of the Seil el Dilbeh is a spring ; on the north, the 'Ain 
Hegireh, with a shadoof for irrigation, and on the south the 'Ain Dilbeh, a 
square pool covered with weeds. These have been supposed to be the upper 
and nether springs granted by Caleb to his daughter, to compensate for the 
dryness of her domain in the Negeb (Judges i. 14, 15). It is a very fertile 
valley here, and the hills can feed many flocks. But there are springs farther 
south than these two, and a stream running in April in the Wady Hafayer. 

3 Edh-Dhaheriyah is probably Debir, known also as Kiriath Sepher (Josh, xv, 
15), which LXX. translate 7r6\ts ypafi/xdrcji/, city of letters. Moore (quoted in 
Siegfr. Stade) suggests "1DD /VIp, or Border-town. But why not Pay-town, or 

Toil-town ? (after 13 D payment, 2 Chron. ii. 16, Heb. ; 17, Eng.) It lies 



280 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



bare, but travellers coming up from the desert delight in 
the verdure which meets them as soon as they have 
passed Beersheba and the Wady es-Seba. 1 The disposi- 
tion of the land — the gentle descent cut by the broad 
Wady — and its fertility render it as open a frontier, and 
as easy an approach to Judaea, as it is possible to conceive. 
But it does not roll out upon the level desert. South of 
South of Beersheba, before the level desert is reached 
Beersheba. anc j t ^ e re gj on Q f r0 ads from Arabia to Egypt 
and Philistia, there lie sixty miles of mountainous country, 
mostly disposed in 'steep ridges running east and west/ 2 
whose inaccessibleness is further certified by the character 
of the tribe that roam upon it. Wilder sons of Ishmael 
are not to be found on all the desert. 3 The vegetation, 
even after rain, is very meagre, and in summer totally 
disappears. 1 No great route now leads, or ever has 
led, through this district ; ' * but the highways which 
gather upon the south of it from Egypt, Sinai, the Gulf of 
Akabah, and Arabia, are thrust by it either to the east up 
the Wady 'Arabah to the Dead Sea, or to the west towards 
Gaza and Philistia. Paths, indeed, skirt this region, and 

on a high-road. Another name is J13D JVlp Kiriath Sannah (Josh. xv. 49), 
thorn-town (?), perhaps only a misreading of Kiriath Sepher, since LXX. still 
have 7r6\tj ypa[x[xaTwv. It is at least worth noting that the Hebrew common 
noun of the same spelling as the name of the town, ^21 or Debir, means 
the back-part, or part behind ; while Dhaheriyah may mean that also. The 
town must have lain in the neighbourhood of Hebron, and on the hills 
(Josh. xi. 21 ; xv. 48). It had been a chief town of the Canaanites (xii. 
13), and was set apart for the priests (xxi. 1, 15), but might also be said to be 
on the Negeb, xv., cf. v. 15 with v. 19 (though this does not necessarily 
follow). Now Dhaheriyah does suit this double designation. It is on the 
hills, but at the back of them, when coming from Judah, and just over the 
edge of the very fertile country. See Additional Note at end of volume. 

1 Robinson, B.R. i. 305, 306. 2 lb. 275. 

* The Azazimeh ; cf. Trumbull's Kadesh Barnea. 

4 Robinson, B.R. i. 275. 



The Borders and Bulwarks of Judcea 



28 



even cross its corners, but they are not war-paths. When 
Judah's frontier extended to Elath, Solomon's cargoes 
from Ophir, 1 and the tribute of Arabian kings to Jehosha- 
phat, 2 were doubtless carried through it. When any one 
power held the whole land, merchants traversed it from 
Petra to Hebron or Gaza, 3 or skirted it by the Roman 
road that ran up the west of it from Akabah to Jerusalem; 4 
and even whole tribes might drift across it in days when 
Judah had no inhabitants to resist them. When the 
Jews came back from exile, they found Edomites settled 
at least as far north as Hebron. But no army of invasion, 
knowing that opposition awaited them upon the Judaean 
frontier, would venture across those steep and haggard 
ridges, especially when the Dead Sea and Gaza routes lie 
so convenient on either hand, and lead to regions so much 
more fertile than the Judaean plateau. 

Hence we find Judaea almost never invaded from the 
south. Chedorlaomer's expedition, on its return from 
the desert of Paran, swept north by the The Negeb 
'Arabah to the cities of the plain, sacking a s a frontier. 
Engedi by the way, but leaving Hebron untouched. 5 
Israel themselves were repulsed seeking to enter the 
Promised Land by this frontier ; 6 and, perhaps most 
significant of all, the invasion by Islam, though its chief 

1 1 Kings ix. 26-28. 3 2 Chron. xvii. 11. 

* As they do to this day. See p. 183. 

4 As shown in the Tabula Peutingeriana. 8 Gen. xiv. 

6 The theory that either the whole tribes of Judah and Simeon, or the 
Kenites, did not cross the Jordan like the rest of Israel, but came up through 
the Negeb, has absolutely no evidence to support it beyond the fact that for 
a time Judah was separated from the other tribes by a Canaanite belt crossing 
the range in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem ; and this is satisfactorily 
explained, as we have seen, by the double and far-parting entrance into the 
land at Jericho. See pp. 276 ff. 



282 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



goal may be said to have been the Holy City of Jerusalem, 
and though its nearest road to this lay past Hebron, 
swerved to east and west, and entered, some of it by Gaza, 
and some, like Israel, across Jordan. The most likely 
foes to swarm upon Judah by the slopes of Hebron were 
the natives of this wild desert, the Arabians , or, as they 
were called from the Red Sea 1 to Philistia, 2 the Amalekites ; 
but it is to be remarked that though they sometimes 
invaded the Negeb, 8 they must have been oftener attracted, 
as they still are, to the more fertile and more easily over- 
run fields of the Philistines. It was nine furlongs from 
Jamnia that Judas Maccabeus defeated in a great battle 
the nomads of Arabia ; 4 and the proper harbour of the 
desert and emporium of Arabian trade was, as we have 
seen, not Hebron but Gaza. 6 The best defences of a road 
or a frontier against these impetuous swarms of warriors 
are strong towers, such as still protect the great Hajj road 
from Syria to Mecca from the Bedouin, 6 and of these Uzziah 
built a number in the desert to the south and east of Judah. 7 
The symbolic use of towers in the Bible is well known. 

The most notable road across this border of Judah was 
the continuation of the great highway from Bethel, which 
The roads kept tne watershed to Hebron, and thence came 
of the Negeb. down to Beersheba. From here it struck due 
south across the western ridges of the savage highland 
district, and divided into several branches. One, the 
Roman road already noticed, curved round the south of 
the highland district to Akabah and Arabia ; another, 
the way perhaps of Elijah when he fled from Jezebel, s and 

1 Exod. xvii. 8. 2 I Sam. xxx. I. 

* I Chron. iv. 43. 4 2 Mace. xii. II. 

■ See p. 182 ft • Cf. Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. 13. 

7 2 Chron. xxvi. 10. * I Kings xix. 



The Borders and Bulwarks of Judaa 283 



much used by mediaeval and modern pilgrims, crossed to 
Sinai ; while a third struck direct upon Egypt, the way to 
Shur. By this last Abraham passed and repassed through 
the Negeb ; 1 Hagar, the Egyptian slave- woman, fled from 
her mistress, perhaps with some wild hope of reaching hei 
own country ; 2 and Jacob went down into Egypt with his 
wagons. 3 In times of alliance between Egypt and Judah, 
this was the way of communication between them. So 
that fatal embassy must have gone from Jerusalem, which 
Isaiah describes as struggling in the land of trouble and 
anguish, whence are the young lion and the old lion, the 
viper and fiery flying serpent ; 4 and so, in the time of the 
Crusades, those rich caravans passed from Cairo to Saladin 
at Jerusalem, one of which Richard intercepted neai 
Beersheba. 6 It is an open road, but a wild one, and was 
never, it would seem, used for the invasion of Judaea from 
Egypt 6 The nearer way to the most of Syria from 
Egypt lay, as we have seen, along the coast, and, passing 
up the Maritime Plain, left the hill-country of Judaea to 
the east. 

This, then, was the southern frontier of Judah, in itseli 
an easy access, with one trunk-road, but barred by the 

1 Gen. xiii. I. 

2 Gen. xvi. 7. The well was called Be i er Lahai Roi= The Well of the 
Living One who seeth me, but it may be The Well called ' He that seeth vie 
liveth ' (Wei. ), behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered (for the latter the 
Targum Ps. Jonathan gives Khalutza, i.e. the present Khalasah, ruins thirteen 
miles south of Beersheba). Twelve miles north-west of 'Ain Kadis is 'Ain el 
Muweileh, which Rowlands says is pronounced Moilahhi by the Arabs, and 
thus it is suggested, is Ma-lehayi-rai, or 'water of the living one seeing' 
(P.E.F.Q., 1884, 177). 

3 Gen. xlvi. 1, 5 f. * Isa. xxx. 6. 5 See p. 235. 

8 Unless Shishak came up this way. In his lists of conquests occur some 
names in the Negeb, but not far enough south to prove that he took this road. 
See Maspero in Tram. Vict. Inst. • W. Max Muller, Asien u. Europa, 148. 



284 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



great desert ridges to the south of it, and enjoying even 
greater security from the fact of its more lofty and barren 
The Southern position between two regions of such attrac- 
reai and" tiveness to invaders as the Valley of the Jordan 
ideal. anc j the Plain of Philistia. Before we leave 

this region, it is well to notice that the broad barrier of 
rough highlands to the south of Beersheba represents the 
difference between the ideal and the practical borders ot 
the Holy Land. Practically the land extended from Dan 
to Beersheba, where, during the greater part of history, 
the means of settled cultivation came to an end ; but the 
ideal border was the River of Egypt, the present Wady 
el Arish, whose chief tributary comes right up to the foot 
of the highlands south of Beersheba, and passes between 
them and the level desert beyond. 

Of all names in Palestine there are hardly any better 
known than Beersheba. Nothing could more aptly illus- 
trate the defencelessness of these southern 
slopes of Judah than that this site which marked 
the frontier of the land was neither a fortress nor a gateway, 
but a cluster of wells on the open desert. But, like Dan, 
at the other end of the land, Beersheba was a sanctuary. 
These two facts — its physical use to their flocks, its holi- 
ness to themselves — are strangely intermingled in the 
stones of the Patriarchs, whose herdsmen strove for its 
waters ; who themselves plant a tamarisk, and call on the 
name of Jehovah, the everlasting God. The two great 
narratives of the Pentateuch differ in describing the origin 
of Beersheba. The one imputes it to Abraham, the other, 
in very similar circumstances, to Isaac. 1 The meaning of 

1 Gen. xxi. 22-32, which imputes it to Abraham, belongs to the Document 
£ ; but Gen. xxvi. 26-33, v - 33» which imputes it to Isaac, belongs to J. 



The Borders and Bulwarks of Judaa 285 



the name as it stands might either be the Well of Seven 
or the Well of (the) Oath, and in one passage both etymo- 
logies seem to be struggling for decision, 1 though the latter 
prevails. There are seven wells there now, and to the 
north, on the hills that bound the valley, are scattered 
ruins nearly three miles in circumference. Beersheba was 
a place of importance under Samuel ; his sons judged 
there. 2 Elijah fled to Beersheba. 3 It was still a sanctuary 
in the eighth century, and frequented even by Northern 
Israel. 4 During the separation of the kingdoms the for- 
mula, from Dan to Beersheba, became from Geba to Beer- 
sheba? or from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim? On the 
return from exile, Beersheba was again peopled by Jews, 
and the formula ran from Beersheba to the valley of 
Hinnom? In Roman times Beersheba was ' a very large 
village ' with a garrison. 8 It was the seat of a Christian 
bishopric. 9 The Crusaders did not come so far south, 
and confused Beersheba with Beit-Jibrin. 10 

South of Beersheba, for thirty miles, the country, 
though mostly barren, is sprinkled with ruins of old 
villages, gathered round wells. They date mostly from 
Christian times, and are eloquent in their testimony to 

1 Gen. xxi. 22-310 obviously implies the meaning to be the Well of Seven. 
But 31^-32 more strongly says that it means the Well of the Oath. It 
almost seems as if two accounts were here mingled ; and, though there is no 
linguistic proof of this, all the passage from 22 to 32 belonging to E, one is 
inclined to extend J back from 33, 34 to 31^. Stade thinks the meaning 
Seven Wells was the ancient Canaanite one (the form in that sense being 
un-Hebraic), and that the Well of the Oath was what the Hebrews changed 
it to in conformity with their syntax, Gesch. i. 127. LXX., Gen. xxi. 31, (ppta/s 
&f)Ki(Tfxov, xlvi. I, TO (pptap TOV SpKOV. 

3 I Sam. viii. 2. 3 1 Kings xix. 3. 4 Amos v. 5, viii. 14. 

6 2 Kings xxiii. 8. 6 2 Chron. xix. 4. 7 Neh. xi. 27, 30. 

6 Euseb. and Jerome, Onom. art Brjpaa^ei, Bersabee. 

* Socrates, Hist. Eccl. 10 See p. 23a. 



286 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



the security which the Roman Government imposed on 
even the most lawless deserts. The only Old Testament 

Other towns s ^ tes tnat are important ar e the city of Salt 1 
oftbeNegeb. and Moladah ; 2 Zephath or Hormah and 
Ziklag, all unknown ; Rehoboth is probably Ruheibeh. 
The ascent of 'Akrabbim was on the south-east corner 
of Judaea, going up from the 'Arabah valley, near the 
end of the Dead Sea. 3 

One other thing we must note before we leave this 
border of Judah. Just as on her eastern border Judah 
was in touch with the Arab Kenites, so on the Negeb she 
touched, and in time absorbed, the Amalekite or Edomite 
clan of the Jerahmeelites. 4 



III. The Western Border. 

The ideal boundary of Judaea on the west was the 
Mediterranean, but, as we have seen, the Maritime Plain 
was never in Jewish possession (except for intervals in 
the days of the Maccabees), and even the Shephelah was 
debatable ground, as often out of Judah as within it. 
The most frequent border, therefore, of Judah to the west 
was the edge of the Central Range. In the previous 
chapter on the Shephelah it was pointed out in detail 
how real a frontier this was. A long series of valleys 
running south from Ajalon to Beersheba separate the low 
loose hills of the Shephelah from the lofty compact range 

1 Josh. xv. 62. 

2 Josh. xv. 26, xix. 2 ; I Chron. iv. 28 ; Neh. xi. 26. Robinson places it 
at Tell el Milh, which Conder, however, identifies with the city of Salt. 

* For the whole geography of this region, cf. Robinson, B.R. i., Trum- 
bull's Kadesh Barnca, Palmer's Desert of the Exodus, Drake's and Kitchener'! 
reports, P.E.F.Q. ; also the relevant paragraphs in Henderson's Palestine. 

* I Sam. xxvii. 10, xxx. 29 ; 1 Chron. ii. 9. Stade, Gesch, i. 159. 



The Borders and Bulwarks of Judcza 287 



to the east — the hill-country of Judcea. This great barrier, 
which repelled the Philistines, even when they had con- 
quered the Shephelah, is penetrated by a The We stem 
number of defiles, none more broad than those defiles - 
of Beth-horon, of the Wady Ali along which the present 
high-road to Jerusalem travels, and of the Wady Surar up 
which the railway runs. Few are straight, most of them 
sharply curve. The sides are steep, and often precipitous, 
frequently with no path between save the rough torrent 
bed, arranged in rapids of loose shingle, or in level steps of 
the limestone strata, which at the mouth of the defile are 
often tilted almost perpendicularly into easily defended 
obstacles of passage. The sun beats fiercely down upon 
the limestone ; the springs are few, though sometimes 
very generous ; a low thick bush fringes all the brows, 
and caves abound and tumbled rocks. 1 

Everything conspires to give the few inhabitants easy 
means of defence against large armies. It is a country of 
ambushes, entanglements, surprises, where large armies 
have no room to fight, and the defenders can remain 
hidden ; where the essentials for war are nimbleness and 
the sure foot, the power of scramble and of rush. We see 
it all in the Eighteenth Psalm : By thee do I run through a 
troop, and by my God do I leap over a wall ; the God that 
girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect. He 
maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me on my high 
places. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, and my feet 
have not slipped. 

1 I describe from my observation of the Wady el-Kuf from Beit-Jibrin to 
Hebron, and of three defiles that run up from the W. en Najil to the plateau 
about Beit Atab. So also Schick, Z.D.P. V. x. 131, 132, on the Wady 
Ismain : ' . . . dass das Thai viele und grosse Krummungen hat tief ein- 
geschnitten und stets von steilen Boschungen eingeschlossen ist, und keine 
Ortschaften tragt.' 



288 The Historical Geography of ike Holy Land 



Yet with negligent defenders the western border of 
Judaea is quickly penetrated. Six hours at the most will 
Their bring an army up any of the defiles, and then 
invaders. j-j^y s t a nd on the central plateau, within a few 
easy miles of Jerusalem or of Hebron. So it happened in 
the days of the Maccabees. The Syrians, repelled at 
Beth-horon, and at the Wady Ali, penetrated twice the 
unwatched defiles to the south, the second time with a 
large number of elephants, of which we are told that 
they had to come up the gorges in single file. 1 What a 
sight the strange huge animals must have been, pushing 
up the narrow path, and emerging for the first and almost 
only time in history on the plateau above ! On both 
occasions the Syrians laid siege to Bethsur, the strong- 
hold on the edge of the plateau, which Judas had specially 
fortified for the western defence of the country. The first 
time, they were beaten back down the gorges ; but the 
second time, with the elephants, Bethsur fell, and the 
Syrian army advanced on Jerusalem. After that all 
attacks from the west failed, and the only other successful 
Syrian invasion was from the north. 2 

Bethsur, the one fortress on the western flank of Judaea 
south of Ajalon, is due to the one open valley on that 
flank, the Vale of Elah, above the higher end 
of which it stands. The need of it could not 
be more eloquently signified than by the fact that it was 
up the Vale of Elah that the Philistines, the Syrians in 
the second century B.C., and Richard with the Third 
Crusade, all attempted to reach the central plateau — the 
Syrians and the Crusaders both choosing this entrance 
after their attack by Ajalon had failed. 

1 Josephus xii. Antt. ix. 4. 2 By Bacchides in 16a 



The Borders and Bulwarks of Judcea 289 



But if invaders came up these defiles to the plateau, we 
may be sure that the settlers on the latter more easily 
passed down them to the Shephelah. Over j udah and the 
the Shephelah Judah claimed, if she did not Canaanites. 
always exercise, dominion ; and the claim did not rest so 
much on conquest as on kinship. In the earliest times the 
tribe had intermarried with the Canaanites of the Shephe- 
lah, especially with those round about Adullam. This is 
the meaning of the extraordinary adventures related in 
Genesis xxxviii. : Judah went down from his brethren, and 
turned in to a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. 
To all lovers of the Bible this result of criticism must 
surely come as a relief, that the following verses relate, not 
the intercourse of individuals, but the intermarriage of 
families. As Judah, then, had Arabian allies and kins- 
folk on her eastern and southern borders, so here, on her 
western, she mixed with the Canaanites. 1 



IV. The Northern Border: the Fortresses 
of Benjamin. 

The narrow table-land of Judaea continues ten miles to 
the north of Jerusalem, before it breaks into the valleys 
and mountains of Samaria. These last ten miles of the 
Judaean plateau — with steep gorges on the one side to the 
Jordan and on the other to Ajalon — were the debatable 
land across which, as we have seen, the most accessible 
frontier of Judaea fluctuated ; and, therefore, they became 
the site of more fortresses, sieges, forays, battles and mas- 
sacres, than perhaps any other part of the country. Their 

1 Lagarde explains Tamar, or Palm, by Phoenicia, Zerah (mT = mtK 
indigenous) by the aboriginal inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and 
Pharez by the Hebrews {Orientalia ii. 1880). 

T 



290 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



appearance matches their violent history. A desolate and 
fatiguing extent of rocky platforms and ridges, of moor- 
land strewn with boulders, and fields of shallow soil thickly 
mixed with stone, they are a true border — more fit for 
the building of barriers than for the cultivation of food. 
The territory They were the territory of Benjamin, in whose 
of Benjamin, blood, at the time of the massacre of the tribe 
by Judah, 1 they received the baptism of their awful history. 
As you cross them their aspect recalls the fierce temper of 
their inhabitants. Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf, father 
of sons who, noble or ignoble, were always passionate and 
unsparing, — Saul, Shimei, Jeremiah, and he that breathed 
out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the 
Lord, and was exceeding mad against them} In such a 
region of blood and tears Jeremiah beheld the figure of 
the nation's woe : A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation 
and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children : she 
refuseth to be comforted for her children, because they are 
not? 

But it is as a frontier that we have now to do with 
those ten northmost miles of the Judaean plateau. Upon 
the last of them three roads concentrate — an 

Bethel and . , _ , 

the incom- open highway from the west by Gophna, the 
mg roa ... g rea ^ nor th road from Shechem, and a road 
from the Jordan Valley through the passes of Mount 
Ephraim. Where these draw together, about three miles 
from the end of the plateau, stood Bethel, a sanctuary 
before the Exile, thereafter a strong city of Judah. 4 But 
Bethel, where she stood, could not by herself keep the 
northern gate of Judaea. For behind her to the south 

1 Judges xx. 35. 2 Acts ix. 1, xxvi. II. 

1 Ter. xxxi. 15. ' I Mace. ix. 50. 



The Borders and Bulwarks of Judcea 



291 



emerge the roads we have already followed — that from the 
Jordan by Ai and those from Ajalon up the gorges and 
ridge of Beth-horon. The Ai route is covered by Mich- 
mash, where the Philistines were encamped against Saul 
and Jonathan, 1 and where the other Jewish hero who was 
called Jonathan — the Maccabeus — held for a time his 
headquarters. 2 The Beth-horon roads were covered by 
Gibeon, 3 the frontier post between David and Saul's house. 4 
Between Michmash and Gibeon there are six miles, and on 
these lie others of the strong points that stood forth in 
the invasion and defence of this frontier : Geba, ^ e ot k er 
long the limit of Judah to the north ; 5 Ramah, fortresses, 
which Baasha, king of Israel, built for a blockade against 
Judah ; 6 Adasa, where Judas Maccabeus pitched against 
Nicanor, coming up from Beth-horon. 7 These, with Mich- 
mash and Gibeon, formed a line of defence that was valid 
against the Ajalon and Ai ascents, as well as against the 
level approach from the north. 

The earlier invasions delivered upon this frontier of 
Judah are difficult to follow. Before it was a frontier in 
the days of Saul, the Philistines overran it either from 
Ajalon, or from Mount Ephraim ; Saul's centre was in 
Michmash. Whether, in their attacks upon Jerusalem, 8 

1 1 Sam. xiii. In vv. 17, 18 the three directions which the three foraging 
bands of the Philistines took are all plain. N. to Ophrah, the city of 
Ephraim, Et-Taiyibeh, W. to Beth-horon, SE. over the ravine of Zeboim, i.e. 
the Wady Abu Duba, running NE. into W. Farah, afterwards W. Kelt (cf. 
Neh. xi. 35), down which there is the name Shukh ed Duba. But see Buhl, 98 f. 

» Josephus xiii. Antt. i. 6. 3 Josh. x. 1-12. 4 2 Sam. ii. 12, 13. 

6 2 Kings xxiii. 8. 6 I Kings xv. 17. 

» Josephus xii. Antt. x. 5 ; 1 Mace. vii. 40-45. Probably the present 
Khurbet Adasa on the road north from Jerusalem. Schurer {Hist. i. 1, 129) 
prefers a site nearer Gophna, because Eusebius {Onom. 'ASeurd) says it was 
near Gophna. But he could so describe Khurbet Adasa, for it is on the 
same road as Gophna. 8 2 Kings xiv. 8. rvi. 5, 



292 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Joash or Rezin and Pekah crossed it, it is impossible to 
say ; probably the latter at least came up from the Arabah. 

Isaiah pictures a possible march this way by 

Invasions 

from the the Assyrians after the fall of Samaria. He is 
come upon Ai ; marcheth through Migron, at 
Michmash musters his baggage ; they have passed the Pass; 
'Let Geba be our bivouac' Terror-struck is Ram ah ; Gibeah 
of Saul hath fled. Make shrill thy voice, O daughter of 
Gallim. Listen Lais hah, answer her Anathoth ; in mad 
flight is Madmenah ; the dwellers in Gebim gather their 
stuff to flee. This very day he halteth at Nob ; he waveth 
his hand at the mount of the datighter of Zion, the hill of 
Jerusalem} This is not actual fact — for the Assyrian did 
not then march upon Zion, and when he came twenty 
years later it was probably by the Beth-horon or anothei 
of the western passes — but this was what might have 
happened any day after the fall of Samaria. The prophet 
is describing how easily the Assyrian could advance by 
this open route upon Zion; and yet, if he did, Jehovah 
would cut him down in the very sight of his goal. 2 All 
the places mentioned are not known ; and of those that 
are, some are off the high-road. How Nebuchadnezzar 
came up against Jerusalem is not stated ; 3 but we can 
follow the course of subsequent invasions. In the great 
Syrian war in 160 B.C. Nicanor and Bacchides both 
attempted the plateau — the former unsuccessfully by Beth- 
horon, the latter with success from the north. In 64 
Pompey marched from Beth-shan through Samaria, but 
could not have reached Judaea had the Jews only per- 
severed in their defence of the passes of Mount Ephraim. 4 

1 Isaiah x. 28-32. 2 Isaiah x. 32, 33. 8 2 Kings xxiv. IQ 

4 But see p. 353, n. 5, on another possible route for Pompey. 



The Borders and Bulwarks of judcea 293 



These being left open, Pompey advanced easily by Koreae 
and Jericho upon Bethel, and thence unopposed to the very 
walls of Zion. 1 In 37 B.C. Herod marched from the north 
and took Jerusalem. 2 In 66 A.D. Cestius Gallus came up 
by Beth-horon and Gibeon to invest Jerusalem, but speedily 
retreated by the same way. 8 In 70, after Vespasian had 
spent two years in reducing all the strong places round 
about Judaea, Titus led his legions to the great siege past 
Gophna and Bethel. It seems to have been by Pompey's 
route that the forces of Islam came upon Jerusalem ; they 
met with no resistance either in Ephraim or Judah, and 
the city was delivered into their hands by agreement, 
637 A.D. 

In 1099, the first Crusaders advanced to their successful 
siege by Ajalon ; in 11 87, Saladin, having conquered the 
rest of the land, drew in on the Holy City from Hebron, 
from Askalon and from the north. 

1 xiv. Antt. iii. 3, 8 xiv. Antt. xvi. 8 See p. 211. 



• 



CHAPTER XIV 
AN ESTIMATE OF 

THE REAL STRENGTH OF JUDAEA 



For this Chapter consult Maps I. and IV, 



AN ESTIMATE OF THE REAL STRENGTH 
OF JUD^A 



HAVING gone round about Judaea, and marked well 
her bulwarks, we may now draw some conclusions 
as to the exact measure of her strength — judeea not 
physical and moral. Judaea has been called im P re s nable 
impregnable, but, as we must have seen, the adjective 
exaggerates. To the north she has no frontier ; her 
southern border offers but few obstacles after the desert 
is passed ; with all their difficulties, her eastern and western 
walls have been carried again and again ; and even the 
dry and intricate wilderness, to which her defenders have 
more than once retired, has been rifled to its farthest 
recesses. Judaea, in fact, has been overrun as often as 
England. 

And yet, like England, Judaea, though not impregnable, 
has all the advantages of insularity. It is singular how 
much of an island is this inland province. 

t , i/-,-iai, * but insular, 

With the gulf of the Arabah to the east, with 

the desert to the south, and lifted high and unattractive 

above the line of traffic, which sweeps past her on the 

west, Judaea is separated as much as by water from the 

two great continents, to both of which she otherwise 

belongs. So open at many points, the land was yet 

sufficiently unpromising and sufficiently remote to keep 

unprovoked foreigners away. When they were pro- 

m 



298 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



voked and did come upon her, then they found the 
waterlessness of her central plateau an almost insuperable 
and difficult obstacle to the prolonged sieges, which the 
to occupy, stubbornness of her people forced them to make 
against her capital and other fortresses. And there was 
this further difficulty. Judaea's borders may all be more 
or less open, but they are of such a character as to 
compensate for each other's weakness. For an invader 
might come over one frontier and make it his own ; but 
the defeated nation could retreat upon any of the others. 
In the intricacy of these or of the great desert, they 
could find ground on which to rally and sweep back 
upon the foe when he was sufficiently disheartened by 
the barrenness of the plateau he had invaded. Hence 
we never find, so far as I know, any successful invasion 
but one of Judaea, which was not delivered across at 
least three of her borders. The exception was the First 
Crusade ; and there is sufficient to account for it in 
the laxity of the defence which it encountered. It is 
very significant that neither of the two greatest 
of Vespasian invaders of Judaea, who feared a real defence of 
her central plateau, ventured upon this till they 
had mastered the rest of Palestine, and occupied the 
strongholds round the Judaean borders. At the interval 
of more than a millennium, the tactics of Vespasian and of 
Saladin were practically identical. Vespasian not only 
overran Galilee and Samaria, but spent nearly another 
year in taking and refortifying Jamnia, Ashdod, and 
Hadida in the west, Bethel and Gophna to the north, 
Jericho to the east, and Hebron with other 1 Idumsean 
strongholds' to the south, before he let slip his impatient 
legions upon Jerusalem. His own officers, as well as 



The Real Strength of fudaa 



299 



deserters from the city, urged him at once to march upon 
it, but Josephus says that Vespasian 4 was obliged at 
first to overthrow what remained elsewhere, and to leave 
behind him nothing outside Jerusalem, which might inter- 
rupt him in that siege ; ' 1 and he closes the list of the 
Roman conquests around Judaea with the remark, ' now all 
the places were taken, except Herodium, Masada, and 
Machaerus, so Jerusalem was now what the Romans aimed 
at.' Similarly, in 1187, Saladin, even after his great victory 
at Hattin, did not venture to attack Jerusalem till the 
Jordan Valley, most of the Maritime Plain, with Askalon 
and even Beit-Jibrin, had first fallen into his hands. 
Nothing could more clearly prove to us that Judaea, 
though not impregnable, was extremely difficult to take, 
and that a swift rush across one of her borders, like that of 
Cestius Gallus in 66 A.D., was sure to end in disaster. To 
be successful, an invader must master at least three of hei 
frontiers, both to prevent the nation from rallying and to 
secure sources of supplies. 

To have followed these campaigns, the details of which 
are known to us, is to understand more clearly what, 
indeed, this province herself tells you by mute 

. .-II Moral effects 

eloquence of rock, mountain and desert, — of Judaea's 
her value to the great people for whom posit1011, 
she was shaped by the Creator's hands. Judaea was 
designed to produce in her inhabitants the sense of 
seclusion and security, though not to such a degree as to 
relieve them from the attractions of the great world, which 
throbbed closely past, or to relax in them those habits of 

1 iv. Wars, vii. 3 ; on the capture of Jamnia and Ashdod, iv. Wars, iii. 2 ; 
itrongholds of Idumaea, viii. 1 ; Jericho, 2 ft ; Jericho and Hadida, ix. 1 ; 
Hebron with the unknown Kaphethra and Kepharabis, 9. 



300 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



discipline, vigilance and valour, which are the necessary 
elements of a nation's character. In the position of Judsea 
there was not enough to tempt her people to put their 
confidence in herself ; but there was enough to encourage 
them to the defence of their freedom and a strenuous life. 1 
And while the isolation of their land was sufficient to con- 
firm the truth of their calling to a discipline and a destiny 
separate from other peoples, it was not so complete as to 
keep them in barbarian ignorance of the world, or to release 
them from those temptations to mix with the world, in 
combating which their discipline and their destiny could 
alone be realised. 

All this receives exact illustration from both Psalmists 
and Prophets. They may rejoice in the fertility of their 



preciation. Thus, Isaiah's fervid faith in Zion's inviolable- 
ness does not blind him to the openness of Judah's 
northern entrance : it is in one of his passages of warmest 
exultation about Zion that he describes the easy advance 
of the Assyrian to her walls. 2 Both he and other prophets 
frequently recognise how swiftly the great military powers 
will overrun Judah ; and when they except Jerusalem from 
the consequences, it is not because of her natural strength, 
but by their faith in the direct intervention of God Himself. 
So at last it happened. In the great crisis of her history 
the invasion by Sennacherib, Judah was saved, as England 
was saved from the Armada, neither by the strength of her 

1 In the Least of all Lands, Principal Miller has some very valuable 
remarks upon the influence of the physical geography of Palestine upon the 
character ol the people. 

' Tsaiah x. 32. See p. 292 of this volume. 



Illustrated 
from the 
Prophets and 
Psalms. 



land, but they never boast of its strength. 
On the contrary, of the real measure of the 
latter they show a singularly sagacious ap- 



The Real Strength of Judcza 301 



bulwarks, for they had all been burst, nor by the valour of 
her men, for the heart had gone from them, but because, 
apart from human help, God Himself crushed her insolent 
foes in the moment of their triumph. 1 

Of all this feeling, perhaps the most concise expression 
is found in the Forty-Eighth Psalm, where, though beautiful 
for situation is Mount Zion in the sides of the north? and 
established for ever, it is God Himself who is known in her 
palaces for a refuge; and when the writer has walked 
about Zion and gone round about her, and told the towers 
thereof marked well her bulwarks and considered her 
palaces, it is yet not in all these that he triumphs, but this is 
the result of his survey : this God is our God for ever and 
ever, He will be our Guide even unto death. Judah was not 
impregnable, but she was better — she was in charge of an 
invincible Providence. 

With their admission of the weakness of Judah's position, 
there runs through the prophets an appreciation of her 
unattractiveness, and that leads them, and especially 
Isaiah, to insist that under God her security lies in this 
and in her people's contentment with this. Though they 
recognise how vulnerable the land is, the prophets main- 
tain that she will be left alone if her people are quiet upon 
her, and if her statesmen avoid intrigue with the powers of 
the world. To the kings of Israel, to Ahaz, to Hezekiah's 
counsellors, to Josiah, the same warnings are given : 3 

1 See p. 236. 2 Kings xviii, xix. ; Isaiah xxxvii. , and probably xxxiii. 

2 Perhaps a phrase for the sacredness and inviolableness of the site ; but it 
is a remarkable fact that, owing to the strong sun (perhaps also to the geological 
formation), the northern aspect of all hills in Western Palestine is more fruitful 
and beautiful than the aspect towards the south ; Ebal and Gerizim are an 
instance of this. 

8 Ahaz, cf. 2 Kingt xvi. with Isaiah vii. 



302 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Asshur shall not save us: we will not ride upon horses} 
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and stay on 
horses and trust in chariots. In returning and rest shall 
ye be saved: in quietness and in confidence shall be your 
strength? 

Thus we see how the physical geography of Palestine 
not only makes clear such subordinate things as the cam- 
paigns and migrations of the Old Testament, but signalises 
the providence of God, the doctrine of His prophets, and 
the character He demanded from His people. It was a 
great lesson the Spirit taught Israel, that no people dwells 
secure apart from God, from character, from common-sense. 
But the land was the illustration and enforcement of this 
lesson. Judaea proved, yet did not exhaust, nor tempt 
men to feel that she exhausted, the will and power of God 
for their salvation. As the writer of the Hundred and 
Twenty-First Psalm feels, her hills were not the answer to, 
but the provocation of, the question, Whence cometh my 
help ? and Jehovah Himself was the answer. As for her 
prophets, a great part of their sagacity is but the true 
appreciation of her position. And as for the character of 
her people, while she gave them room to be free and to 
worship God, and offered no inducement to them to put 
herself in His place, she did not wholly shut them off from 
danger or temptation, for without danger and temptation 
it is impossible that a nation's character should be strong. 

1 Hosea xiv. 3, cf. xii. I. 8 Isaiah xxxi. I, xxx. 15. 



CHAPTER XV 
THE CHARACTER OF JUDAEA 



For this Chapter consult Maps I. and IV 



i 



THE CHARACTER OF JUD^A 



E have seen how much of Judaea is borderland, and 



* V how strongly this fact has determined her history. 
But after all it is the plateau, which her bulwarks so lift 
and isolate from the rest of Palestine, that remains the 
most characteristic part of Judaea. Here lay all her chief 
towns, and here her people were most distinctively 
themselves. This plateau is little more than thirty-five 
miles long, from Bethel to the group of cities south- 
east of Hebron. The breadth varies from fourteen 
to seventeen, when reckoned from the western edge, 
above the valley that cuts off the Shephelah, to where 
on the east the level drops below 1700 feet and into 
desert. 

The greater part of the Judaean plateau consists of stony 
moorland, upon which rough scrub and thorns, reinforced 
by a few dwarf oaks, contend with multitudes The j udsean 
of boulders, and the limestone, as if impatient Tabl e-iand. 
of the thin pretence of soil, breaks out in bare scalps and 
prominences. There are some patches of cultivation, but 
though the grain springs bravely from them, they seem 
more beds of shingle than of soil. The only other signs 
of life, besides the wild bee and a few birds, are flocks 
of sheep and goats, or a few cattle, cropping far apart in 




U 



306 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



melancholy proof of the scantiness of the herbage. Where 
the plateau rolls, the shadeless slopes are for the most part 
divided between brown scrub and grey rock ; the hollows 
are stony fields traversed by dry torrent-beds of dirty 
boulders and gashed clay. Where the plateau breaks, low 
ridge and shallow glen are formed, and the ridge is often 
crowned by a village, of which the grey stone walls and 
mud roofs look from the distance like a mere outcrop of 
the rock ; yet round them, or below in the glen, there will 
be olive-groves, figs, and perhaps a few terraces of vines. 
Some of these breaks in the table-land are very rich in 
vegetation, as at Bethany, the Valley of Hinnom, the 
Gardens of Solomon and other spots round Bethlehem 
and in the neighbourhood of Hebron, the famous Vale of 
Eshcol or Vine Cluster. And again between Hebron and 
the wilderness there are nine miles by three of plateau, 
where the soil is almost free from stones, and the fair, red 
and green fields, broken by a few heathy mounds, might be 
a scene of upland agriculture in our own country. 1 This is 
where Ma'on, Ziph, and the Judaean Carmel lay with the 
farms of Nabal, on which David and his men, like the 

1 'At 2.30 we left Hebron. Rough limestone country. Paths execrable, 
slippery rock and rolling stones. In an hour we came out on the Ziph- 
Maon-Carmel plateau, very like a bit of higher and less fertile Aberdeenshire 
— rolling red ground, mostly bare, partly wheat and barley, broken by lime- 
stone scalps partly covered by scrub, and honeycombed by caves. We came 
on this at Tell Zif (Ziph), cantered across it one and a half hours to Kurmul, 
with ruins of Crusaders' Castle, large bright blue pool below. Black 
Bedawee tents near. Thence a twenty minutes' canter to Ma'an through barley- 
fields. The view from Maon is very extensive. The fine plateau spreads 
due N., higher hills sweep round two sidas from SW. to NE. ; due N. at the 
mouth of an opening through them is Hebron with its white buildings, the 
mosque clear through a glass. WNW. Yuttah on a peak, NE. Beni Nain. 
E. a decisive fall of about 400 feet from the cultivated land to the desert, 
and thence Jeshimon, rolling hills and irregular ridges backed by the rang* 
of Moab. ' — Extract from Diary. 



The Character of Judcza 



307 



Bedouin of to-day, levied blackmail from Horeshah in the 
wilderness below. 1 

But the prevailing impression of Judaea is of stone — the 
torrent-beds, the paths that are no better, the heaps and 
heaps of stones gathered from the fields, the Its feature . 
fields as stony still, the moors strewn with lessness - 
boulders, the obtrusive scalps and ribs of the hills. In the 
more desolate parts, which had otherwise been covered 
with scrub, this impression is increased by the ruins of 
ancient cultivation- — cairns, terrace -walls, and vineyard 
towers. 

Now if you aggravate this stony appearance by two 
other deficiencies of feature, you will feel to the full that 
dreariness which most bring away with them as their whole 
memory of Judaea. First, there is no water. No tarns 
break here into streams and quicken the landscape, as they 
quicken even the most desolate moors of our north, but at 
noon the cattle go down by dusty paths to some shadow- 
less gorge, where the glare is only broken by the black 
mouth of a cistern with troughs round it. On the whole 
plateau the only gleams of water are the pools at Gibeon, 
Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, and I do not suppose that 
from Bethel to Beersheba there are, even in spring-time, 
more than six or seven tiny rills. No water to soothe the 
eye, there are no great hills to lift it. The horizon has no 
character or edge. Of course from the western boundary 

1 H^iriD: E. V. in the wood, 1 Sam. xxiii. 15. But this rendering implies both 
a very unusual grammatical form, and a wood, or even thicket, if it existed in 
these desert regions, would be too prominent to be used as a hiding-place. The 
LXX. understood a proper name, though they spelt it differently (Josephus 
follows LXX. ). Conder discovered south-east of Ziph, and in the desert, the 
Ruin Khoreisa and the Wady Abu Hirsh, in both of which he sees the name 
Horeshah, T. W. t 243 f. 



308 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



of the plateau you see the blue ocean with its border of 
broken gold, and from the eastern boundary the Moab 
Hills, that change their colours all day long above the 
changeless blue of the Dead Sea. But, in the centre of 
the hill-country of Judaea, there is nothing to look to past 
the featureless roll of the moorland, and the low blunt 
hills with the flat-roofed villages. 

Was the land always like this ? For answer, we have 
three portraits of ancient Judah. The first is perhaps 
the most voluptuous picture in the Old Testament : 1 

Binding to the vine his foal 

And to the choice vine his ass's colt, 

He hath washed in wine his raiment \ 

And in the blood of the grape his vesture; 

— Heavy in the eyes from wine, 

And white of teeth from milk. 

This might be the portrait of a Bacchus breaking from 
the vineyards of Sicily ; but of Judah we can scarcely 
believe it, as we stand in his land to-day. And 

Old Testament J 

portraits yet on those long, dry slopes with their ruined 

of Judah. 

terraces — no barer than the banks of Rhine 
in early spring — and even more in the rich glens around 
Hebron and Bethlehem, where the vine has been preserved, 2 
we perceive still the possibilities of such a portrait. Heavy 
in the eyes from wine, and he hath washed in wine his 
raiment — but Judah has lost his eyes, and his raiment is 
in rags. The Judsean landscape of to-day is liker the 
second portrait which Isaiah drew in prospect of the 

1 Gen. xlix. On milk and wine, cf. Additional Notes to Fourth Edition. 

2 Until the recent revival of vineyards by foreigners, Hebron and Beth- 
lehem were almost the only places in the Holy Land where wine was made. 
The grapes of Es-Salt have always been turned into raisins. 



The Character of Judcea 



309 



Assyrian invasion. In that day shatl the Lord shave, wit 1 
a razor that is hired, the head and the hair of the feet and 
the beard. A nd it shall be in that day, a man shall nourish 
a young cow and a couple of sheep ; and it shall be, because 
of the abundance of the making of milk, he shall eat butter, 
— -for butter aiid honey shall everything eat which is left in 
the midst of the land. And it shall be in that day, that 
every place in which there were a thousand vines at a 
thousand silver lings— for briars and for thorns shall it be. 
. . . And all the hills that were digged with the mattock, 
thou shalt not come thither for fear of briars and thorns ; 
but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen and for the tread- 
ing of sheep} With the exceptions named above, this is 
exactly the Judah of to-day. But we have a third portrait, 
by the prophet Jeremiah, 2 of what Judah should be after 
the Restoration from Exile, and in this it is remarkable 
that no reversion is promised to a high state of cultivation, 
with olives and vines as the luxuriant features of the 
country, but that her permanent wealth and blessing are 
conceived as pastoral. . . . For I will bring again the 
captivity of the land as in the beginning, saith fehovah. 
Thus saith fehovah of Hosts : Again shall there be in this 
place— the Desolate, without man or even beast — and in all 
its cities, the habitation of shepherds couching their flocks. 
In the cities of the Mountain, or Hill- Country, of fudah, 
in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb, 
and in the land of Benjamin, and in the suburbs of feru- 
salem, and in the cities of fudah, again shall the flocks pass 
upon the hands of him that telleth them, saith fehovah. 
Now, though other prospects of the restoration of Judah 

1 Isa. vii. 20 fF. 

8 Jer. xxxiii. 12, 13. The passage begins with ver. 10. 



3io The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



include husbandry and vine culture, 1 and though the Jews 
after the Exile speak of their property as vineyards, olive- 
yards and cornland, along with sheep, 2 yet the prevailing 
aspect of Judah is pastoral, and the fulfilment of Jacob's 
luscious blessing must be sought for in the few fruitful 
corners of the land, and especially at Hebron. As Judah's 
first political centre, Hebron would in the time of her 
supremacy be the obvious model for the nation's ideal 
figure. 3 

But this has already brought us to the first of those 
three features of Judsea's geography which are most sig- 
nificant in her history — her pastoral character, 
acteristics of her neighbourhood to the desert, her singular 
unsuitableness for the growth of a great city. 
With these the rest of this chapter will be occupied. 

I. If, as we have seen, the prevailing character of Judaea 
be pastoral, with husbandry only incidental to her life, it 
i. A Land of 1S not surprising that the forms which have 
Shepherds. impressed both her history and her religion 
upon the world should be those of the pastoral habit. Her 

1 Micah iv. 4 and 1 Kings iv. 25 give the ideal state, as every man under 
his own vine and fig-tree. Jeremiah (xxxi. 24) in his picture of the future, 
places husbandmen before them that go forth with flocks. Habakkuk puts 
vines, figs, and olives before flocks, iii. 17. Isaiah (lxv. 10) says, Sharon shall 
be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to couch, for My 
people that have sought Me; but in ver. 21, they shall plant vineyards, cf. 
Isaiah lxi. 5, strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the 
alien shall be your plowmen and vine-dressers. 

2 Nehemiah v. Haggai speaks only of husbandry. Malachi sees both 
flocks and vines. Joel catalogues corn, wine and oil, figs, pomegranates, 
palms, and apples (chap. i.). With him cattle and herds are in the back- 
ground. New wine and milk are the blessings of the future, iii. 18. 

8 One is tempted to ask whether any inference as to the date of Gen. xlix. 
can be drawn from its representation of Judah as chiefly a wine-growing 
country ; but I do not think any such inference would be at all trustworthy, 
as may be seen from a comparison of the passages cited in the above notes. 



The Character of Judcza 



origin ; more than once her freedom and power of political 
recuperation ; more than once her prophecy ; her images 
of God, and her sweetest poetry of the spiritual life, have 
been derived from this source. It is the stateliest shepherds 
of all time whom the dawn of history reveals upon her 
fields — men not sprung from her own remote conditions, 
nor confined to them, but moving across the world in 
converse with great empires, and bringing down from 
heaven truths sublime and universal to wed with the 
simple habits of her life. These were the patriarchs of 
the nation. The founder of its one dynasty, and the first 
of its literary prophets, were also taken from following the 
flocks} The king and every true leader of men was called 
a shepherd. Jehovah was the Shepherd of His people, 
and they the sheep of His pasture. It was in Judaea that 
Christ called Himself the Good Shepherd, as it was in 
Judaea also that, taking the other great feature of her life, 
He said He was the True Vine. 2 

Judaea, indeed, offers as good ground as there is in all 
the East for observing the grandeur of the shepherd's 
character. On the boundless Eastern pasture, so different 
from the narrow meadows and dyked hillsides with which 
we are familiar, the shepherd is indispensable. With us, 
sheep are often left to themselves ; but I do not re- 
member ever to have seen in the East a flock of sheep 
without a shepherd. In such a landscape as Judaea, where 
a day's pasture is thinly scattered over an unfenced tract 
of country, covered with delusive paths, still frequented by 
wild beasts, and rolling off into the desert, the man and 
his character are indispensable. On some high moor, 

1 2 Sam. vii. 8 ; Amos vii. 15. 

3 Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, xiii. 



312 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



across which at night the hyenas howl, when you meet 
him, sleepless, far-sighted, weather-beaten, armed, leaning 
on his staff, and looking out over his scattered sheep, 
every one of them on his heart, you understand why the 
shepherd of Judaea sprang to the front in his people's 
history ; why they gave his name to their king, and made 
him the symbol of Providence ; why Christ took him as 
the type of self-sacrifice. 

Sometimes we enjoyed our noonday rest beside one of 
those Judaean wells, to which three or four shepherds come 
down with their flocks. The flocks mixed with each other, 
and we wondered how each shepherd would get his own 
again. But after the watering and the playing were over, 
the shepherds one by one went up different sides of the 
valley, and each called out his peculiar call ; and the sheep 
of each drew out of the crowd to their own shepherd, and 
the flocks passed away as orderly as they came. The 
shepherd of the sheep, . . . when he putteth forth his own 
sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for 
they know his voice, and a stranger will they not follow. 1 
am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known 
of Mine. These words our Lord spake in Judaea. 

2. With the pastoral character of the hill-country of 
Judaea we may take its neighbourhood to the desert — the 
2 Neighbour wilderness of Judaea. In the Old Testament 
to the desert. i anc i j s ca n e d the Jeshimon, a word mean- 

ing devastation, 1 and no term could better suit its haggard 
and crumbling appearance. It covers some thirty-five 
miles by fifteen. We came upon it from Maon. The 

1 In Deut. xxxii. 10, it is applied to the great Araoian Desert, from which 
God brought Israel, the waste and howling wilderness, jlE^' 1 &i inn 
See p. 86. 



The Character of Jud&a 



313 



cultivated land to the east of Hebron sinks quickly to 
rolling hills and waterless vales, covered by broom and 
grass, across which it took us all forenoon to ride. The 
wells are very few, and almost all cisterns of rain-water, 
jealously guarded through the summer by their Arab 
owners. 1 For an hour or two more we rode up and down 
steep ridges, each barer than the preceding, and then 
descended rocky slopes to a wide plain, where The wilder . 
we left behind the last brown grass and thistle ; nessof Judaea, 
the last flock of goats we had passed two hours before. 
Short bushes, thorns, and succulent creepers were all that 
relieved the brown and yellow bareness of the sand, the 
crumbling limestone, and scattered shingle. The strata 
were contorted ; ridges ran in all directions ; distant hills 
to north and south looked like gigantic dust-heaps ; those 
near we could see to be torn as if by waterspouts. When 
we were not stepping on detritus, the limestone was 
blistered and peeling. Often the ground sounded hollow ; 
sometimes rock and sand slipped in large quantity from 
the tread of the horses; sometimes the living rock was 
bare and jagged, especially in the frequent gullies, that 
therefore glowed and beat with heat like furnaces. Far 
to the east ran the Moab hills, and in front of them we got 
glimpses of the Dead Sea, the deep blue of which was a 
most refreshing sight across the desert foreground. So we 
rode for two hours, till the sea burst upon us in all its 
length, and this chaos, which we had traversed, tumbled 
and broke, down 1200 feet of limestone, flint and marl — 
crags, corries and precipices — to the broad beach of the 
water. Such is Jeshimon, the wilderness of Judsea. It 

1 The P. E. F. Survey map shows that almost the only names in this part 
of Judaea are compounded with Btr, ' cistern- ' 



314 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



carries the violence and desolation of the Dead Sea Valley 
right up to the heart of the country, to the roots of the 
Mount of Olives, to within two hours of the gates of 
Hebron, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem, 

When you realise that this howling waste came within 
reach of nearly every Jewish child ; when you climb the 
Mount of Olives, or any hill about Bethlehem, or the hill 
of Tekoa, and, looking east, see those fifteen miles of 
chaos, sinking to a stretch of the Dead Sea, you begin to 
understand the influence of the desert on Jewish imagina- 
tion and literature. It gave the ancient natives of Judaea, 
as it gives the mere visitor of to-day, the sense of living 
next door to doom ; the sense of how narrow is the border 
between life and death ; the awe of the power of God, 
who can make contiguous regions so opposite in character. 
He turneth rivers into a wilderness^ and watersprings into 
a thirsty ground. The desert is always in face of the 
prophets, and its howling of beasts and its dry sand 
blow mournfully across their pages the foreboding of 
judgment. 

But this is not the only influence of the desert. Meteoric 
effects are nowhere in Palestine so simple or so brilliant. 
And there is the annual miracle, when, after the winter 
rains, even these wastes take on a glorious green. Hence 
the sudden rushes of light and life across the prophet's 
vision; it is from the desert that he mostly borrows his 
imagery of the creative, instantaneous Divine grace. The 
wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them : tlu 
desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 

Two, at least, of the prophets were born in face of 
the wilderness of Judaea — Amos and Jeremiah — and on 
both it has left its fascination. Amos lived to the south 



The Character of Judcea 



3i5 



of Jerusalem, at Tekoa. No one can read his book with- 
out feeling that he haunted heights, and lived in the face 
of very wide horizons. But from Tekoa you Amos and 
see the exact scenery of his visions. The Tekoa - 
slopes on which Amos herded his cattle show the mass of 
desert hills with their tops below the spectator, and there- 
fore displaying every meteoric effect in a way they could 
not have done had he been obliged to look up to them. 
The cold wind that blows off them after sunset ; through 
a gap the Dead Sea, with its heavy mists ; beyond the 
gulf the range of Moab, cold and grey, till the sun leaps 
from behind his barrier, and in a moment the world of 
hill-tops below Tekoa is flooded with light — that was the 
landscape of Amos. Lo, He that formeth the mountains, 
and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his 
thought ; that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth 
on the high places of the earth, Jehovah, God of Hosts, is His 
name ; that maketh the Seven Stars and Orion, and turneth 
the shadow of death into morning, and maketh the day dark 
with night ; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth 
them out on the face of the earth — Jehovah is His name. 

Jeremiah grew up at Anathoth, a little to the north-east 
of Jerusalem, across Scopus, and over a deep valley. It is 
the last village eastward, and from its site the j eremiah and 
land falls away in broken, barren hills to the Anathoth - 
north end of the Dead Sea. The vision of that desert 
maze was burnt into the prophet's mind, and he contrasted 
it with the clear, ordered Word of God. O generation, see 
y e the word of the Lord : Have I been a wilderness unto 
Israel, a land of darkness ? 1 He had lived in face of the 
scorching desert air — A dry wind of the high pla ces in the 

1 Jer. iL 31. 



3 1 6 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



wilderness toward the daughter of My people, not to fan 
nor to cleanse. And in face of the chaotic prospect, he 
described judgment in these terms : / beheld the earth, and 
lo, it was without form and void . . . I beheld, and lo, the 
fruitful place was a wilderness . . . at the presence of 
Jehovah, by His fierce anger} 

But the wilderness affected Judaea by more than its 
neighbourhood. There can be little doubt but that the 
more austere and fanatic temper of the Jew was begotten 
in him by the absorption of such desert tribes as the 
Kenites. Israel was everywhere a mixed race, but while 
in Samaria and Galilee the foreign constituents were mostly 
Canaanite, in Judaea they were mostly Arabian. 2 

The wilderness of Judaea played also a great part in her 
history as the refuge of political fugitives and religious 



among those tossed and broken hills, where the valleys 
are all alike, and large bodies of men may camp near 
each other without knowing it. Ambushes are everywhere 
possible, and alarms pass rapidly across the bare and silent 
hills. You may travel for hours, and feel as solitary as at 
sea without a sail in sight ; but if you are in search of any 
one, your guide's signal will make men leap from slopes 
that did not seem to shelter a rabbit, and if you are 
suspected, your passage may be stopped by a dozen men, 
as if they had sprung from the earth. 3 

We cannot pass from the wilderness of Judaea without 
remembering two more holy events of which it was the 
scene. Here John was prepared for his austere mission, 

1 Jer. iv. ii, 23, 26. 2 Wellhausen, Dt Gentibus, etc. 8 See p. 272 L 



The wilder- 
ness as a 
refuge. 



solitaries — a part which it still continues. 
The story of Saul's hunt after David, and of 
David's narrow escapes, becomes very vivid 



The Character of Judcea 317 



and found his figures of judgment Here you understand 
his own description of his preaching — like a desert fire 
when the brown grass and thorns on the more j ohn Baptist 
fertile portions will blaze for miles, and the and Chnst - 
unclean reptiles creep out of their holes before its heat : 
generation of vipers, who hath taught you to flee from the 
wrath to come f And here our Lord suffered His tempta- 
tion. Straightway the Spirit driveth Him into the wilder- 
ness. For hours, as you travel across these hills, you may 
feel no sign of life, except the scorpions and vipers which 
your passage startles, in the distance a few wild goats or 
gazelles, and at night the wailing of the jackal and the 
hyena's howl. He was alone with the wild beasts. 

3. But the most impressive fact about Judaea — at least 
in face of her history — is her natural unfitness for the 
growth of a great city. 

All the townships of Judsea were either fortresses^ 
shrines, or country villages. The fortresses we have 
already seen on the borders, chiefly on the judsea's 
west and north. And on the western border we ""growth* 
have seen one of the shrines — Kiriath Jearim, of a cit y- 
or Baalath-Jehuda. The agricultural townships lay chiefly 
on the east, — Tekoa and the group of cities on the fertile 
plateau south-east of Hebron. 1 But up the centre of the 
plateau ran a road, and all the places of greatest import- 
ance lay upon it — Beersheba, Kiriath Sepher, Hebron, 
Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Bethel. Of these, Beersheba 
(as we have seen), Hebron, and Bethel were 
sanctuaries long before Israel entered the land ; 
and Jerusalem, from the earliest times, had been a 
fortress and probably also a shrine. Hebron and Beth 

1 Eshtemoa', Ma'on, Carmel, Juttah, Ziph, Januah, etc. 



3 1 8 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



lehem, the two earliest seats of Judah, have the greatest 
natural possibilities. Ancient Hebron lay on a hill to the 
north-west of the present site ; it commands an entrance 
to the higher plateau, and it is within hail of the desert, 
which means trade with Arabs. The valleys about it are 
very fruitful. Like so many ancient towns, Hebron must 
have combined the attractions of a market and a shrine. 1 

Beth-lehem-Ephratah was no shrine, but, as its double 
name implies, it lies in the midst of a district of great 
fertility, with water not far away. 2 The posi- 

Beth-lehem. . .111 1 1 

tion is one of considerable strength, and not 
far from that citadel which Herod the Great made famous 
under his own name. Beth-lehem, indeed, though too 

1 The origin of Hebron is obscure. In the Hexateuch it is mentioned by 
all the documents. First J informs us that its earlier name was Kiriath 
Arba', and Kaleb drave from it three sons of 'Anak, Sheshai, Ahiman, 
Tolmai (Judges i. 10, 20 ; Num. xiii. 22 ; cf. Josh. xv. 4. According to 
Josh. xi. 21, Joshua had cut off the Anakim from Hebron). J also tells us 
that Hebron was built seven years before Zoan (Num. xiii. 22), but which 
building of Zoan ? J mentions the terebinths of Mamre, but does not identify 
them with Hebron (Gen. xiii. 18, xviii. 1). E confirms J : Hebron was earlier 
called Kiriath {city of) 'Arba 1 : he was the mightiest man among the Anakim 
(Josh. xiv. 15). Averse assigned to the Redactor calls Arba' the father of 
Anak (Josh. xv. 13 ; cf. xxi. 11). E also puts Vale of Eshcol near Hebron 
(Num. xiii. 23). P identifies Kiriath Arba* and Hebron (Gen. xxiii. 2, 
Josh. xx. 7, a city of refuge; cf. xxi. 13); it also identifies Mamre (the 
sacred terebinths of which it does not mention) with Hebron (Gen. xxiii. 19, 
etc., xxxv. 27. According to xxv. 9, xlix. 30, 1. 13, Macpelah lies in front 
of Mamre). In Gen. xxxv. 27, 'Arba' bears the article, City of the 'Arba', 
or of the Four, and so in Neh. xi. 25. In Gen. xiv. 13, 24, a chapter not 
assignable to any of the documents, Mamre is called the Amoritc and 
brother to Eshcol and Aner. In Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Hebron is the 
only name given to the city : — 1 Sam. xxx. 31, 2 Sam. ii. 1, etc. ; iii. 2, 32 ; 
iv. 1-12, v. I-13 ; xv. 7, 10, Absalom's vow in Hebron, and his revolt there ; 

1 Chron. ii. 42, Mareshah, father of Hebron, 43, Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, 
Shema, sons of Hebron ; vi. 55, 57, Hebron given to sons of Aaron ; 

2 Chron. xi. 10, fortified by Rehoboam ; I Mace. v. 65, destroyed by Judas 
in campaign against Ed omit es. 

s Mr. Tomkins {P.E.F.Q., 1885, 112) suggests that Beth-lehem was 
originally the sacred place of Lakhmu, a Chaldean god of fertility (Smith, 



The Character of Judcza 



319 



little to be placed among the families of fudah, is the finest 
site in the whole province. 

Yet neither Beth-lehem nor Hebron, nor any other 
part of that plateau, bears tokens of civic promise. 
Throughout Judaea these are absolutely lacking. She has 
no harbours, no river, no great trunk-road, no convenient 
market for the nations on either side of her. In their 
commerce with each other, these pass by Judaea, finding 
their emporiums in the cities of Philistia, or, as of old, at 
Petra and Bosra on the east of the Jordan. Gaza has 
outdone Hebron as the port of the desert Jerusalem is 
no match for Shechem in fertility or convenience of site. 
The whole plateau stands aloof, waterless, on the road to 
nowhere. There are none of the natural conditions of a 
great city. 

And yet it was here that She arose who, more than 
Athens and more than Rome, taught the nations civic 

Chald, Genesis, 58, 60), and compares Lahmi (1 Chron. xx. 5). Lahmam, 
the present El Lahm, was near Beit-Jibrin. Had Beth-lehem, however, 
been originally a shrine, some trace of it must have survived in the Old 
Testament, and there is none. ' House of Bread ' is a natural name for so 
fertile a site, and it has continued into Arabic, in which, however, the same 
letters mean 'house of meat.' InJEit is called Ephrath, that is B. (Gen. xxxv. 
16, 19 ; cf. xlviii. 7 R). Ibzan, a minor judge, sprang from it (Judges xii. 
8-10). In Judges xvii. 7, xix. 1, 2, etc., it is called B. in Judah ; in Ruth i. 
1, etc., B. Judah, or B. alone. So in 1 and 2 Sam., passim. 1 Chron. xi. 16, 
Jer. xli. 17, they came to the inn of Kimham, which is by B. t to go and to 
enter into Egypt. Micah v. 2, B. Ephratah^ though thou be too small to be 
among the families of Jtidah. The natives were called Ephrathites (Ruth i. 2, 
1 Sam. xvii. 12). But in Judges xii. 5, 1 Sam. i. 1, 1 Kings xi. 26, 
Ephrathite = Ephraimite. Herod's citadel near Beth-lehem was the Herodium, 
now the Jebel Fureidis, or Frank Mountain, from its use by the Crusaders 
after the capture of Jerusalem (Felix Fabri, ed. P.P.T. ii. 403 f.). Conder 
suggests Fureidis = a corruption of Herodium (cf. Furbia = Herbia). Herod is 
buried here. On the strong reasons for supposing that the Church of the 
Nativity occupies the site of t,he inn, see Conder, T. W. ch. x., Henderson's 
Pa 'es tine, p. 149. 



320 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 

justice, and gave her name to the ideal city men are ever 
striving to build on earth, to the City of God that shall 
one day descend from heaven — the New Jerusalem. For 
her builder was not Nature nor the wisdom of men, but 
on that secluded and barren site, the Word of God, by her 
prophets, laid her eternal foundations in righteousness, and 
reared her walls in her people's faith in God 



CHAPTER XVI 
SAMARIA 



x 



this Chapter consult Maps V. and VI 



SAMARIA 



FROM Judaea we pass to Samaria. Halves of the same 
mountain range, how opposite they are in disposi- 
tion and in history ! The northern is as fair 

i t • i i i i Samaria and 

and open as the southern is secluded and Judaea— a 
austere, and their fortunes correspond. To the 
prophets Samaria is the older sister, 1 standing nearer to 
the world, taking precedence alike in good and evil. The 
more forward to attract, the more quick to develop, 
Samaria was always the less able to retain. The patri- 
archs came first to Shechem, but chose their homes about 
Hebron ; the earliest seats of Israel's worship, the earliest 
rallies of her patriotism, were upon Mount Ephraim, 2 but 
both Church and State ultimately centred in Jerusalem ; 
after the disruption of the kingdom the first prophets and 
heroes sprang up in the richer life of Northern Israel, but 
the splendour and endurance both of prophecy and of 
kingship remained with Judaea. And so, though we owe 
to Samaria some uf the finest of Israel's national lyrics, 
she produced no literature of patriotism, but the bulk of 
the literature about her is full of scorn for her traffic with 
foreigners, for her luxury and her tolerance of many idols. 
' Pride, fulness of bread and prosperous ease,' then rotten- 

1 Jer. iii. ; Ezek. xvi. 46, and especially xxiii. 

1 He blew a trumpet in Mount Ephraim, Judges iii. 27. Palm-tret of 
Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim % iv. 5 ; cf. vi. 1 1. 

823 




324 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



ness and swift ruin, are the chief notes of prophecy con- 
cerning her. And so to-day, while pilgrims throng on 
either hand to Judaea and to Galilee, none seek Samaria 
save for one tiny spot of her surface — that was neither 
a birthplace nor a tomb nor a battle-field nor a city, but 
the scene of a wayside saying by Him who used this land 
only as a passenger. 

But if hardly Holy Land — if hardly even national land — 
there is no region of Syria more interesting and romantic. 
The traveller, entering from Judaea, is refreshed by a far 
fairer landscape. When he reaches the Vale of Shechem 
he finds himself at the true physical centre of Palestine, 
from which the features of the whole country radiate and 
group themselves most clearly. Historical memories, too, 
burst about the paths of Samaria more lavishly than even 
those fountains, which render her such a contrast to Judaea 
— the altars at Shechem and Shiloh, the fields round 
Dothan, the palm-tree of Deborah, the winepress of Ophrah, 
Carmel and Gilboa, the columns in Samaria, the vineyard 
of Naboth, the gates of Jezreel and Bethshan, the fords of 
Jordan ; the approach of the patriarchs, Elijah's appari- 
tions, Elisha passing to and fro, John baptizing at yEnon 
near to Salim ; Ahab and Herod ; Gideon's campaign. 
Jehu's furious driving, Judith and Holofernes, battles ol 
the Maccabees, the strategy of Pompey and of Vespasian. 

It has been already shown how the southern frontier ot 
Samaria gradually receded from the Vale of Ajalon to the 
The borders Wady Ishar and 'Akrabbeh. 1 The northern 
of Samaria. was more fixed, and lay from the Mediterranean 
to Jordan, along the south edge of Esdraelon, by the foot 
of Carmel and Gilboa. If we shut off Carmel, the edge of 

1 See pp. 249-2 <;6. 



Samaria 



325 



Sharon may be taken as the western boundary ; the eastern 
was Jordan. These limits enclose a territory nearly square, 
or some forty miles north and south by thirty-five east and 
west — the size of an average English shire. 1 

The earliest name given to this section of the Central 
Range (we exclude Carmel) was Mount Ephraim :, 2 just 
as the whole table-land of Judah was called Mount 
Mount Judah? When you stand off the country Ephraim. 
you see, as you do not when travelling within it, the pro- 
priety of the singular name mount. Broken up as Samaria 
is into more or less isolated groups of hills, yet when you 
view her from Gilead, or from the Mediterranean, she pre- 
sents the aspect of a single mountain massif, with entrances 
indeed, but apparently as compact as even the table-land 
of Judaea. 

Take first the western flank. Here from summits of 
3000 feet, and an average watershed of 2000, Mount 
Ephraim descends upon Sharon by uninterrupted ridges. 

1 See p. 260. The exact distances are these. From Bethel to Jezreel, 42 
miles ; from the edge of Sharon to Jordan varies between 33 and 36 miles ; 
but from the point of Carmel to Bethshan is 40 miles ; and to the south-east 
cqrner of the province (east of Bethel) about 67 miles. Without Carmel 
Samaria is about 1400 square miles ; Carmel represents about 180 or 200 
more. Judaea, it may be remembered, was estimated at 2000 square miles, of 
which only about 1400 were habitable. 

2 CKIBK 111, Josh. xvii. 15, xix. 50, etc. Judges iii. 27, iv. 5, etc. ; 
1 Sam. i. 1, ix. 4, etc. That the whole district known as Samaria is covered 
by the name is proved by the fact that between Ramah and Bethel is styled 
as being in Mount Ephraim (Judges iv. 5) ; also Shechem (1 Kings xii. 25 ; 
Josh. xx. 7, etc.) ; and that in Jer. xxxi. 6, Mount Ephraim stands parallel 
to Mountains of Samaria (v. 5). Of course the name spread originally from 
the hill-country immediately north of Benjamin's territory, which fell to the 
tribe of Ephraim, and in which we must seek for the site of the city called 
Ephrai?n (2 Chron. xiii. 19, 2 Sam. xiii. 23, John xi. 54) — perhaps the 
modern et-Taiyibeh. 

8 Josh. xxi. XI, where it is tran^ted hill-country of Judah. 



326 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



The general aspect of the slope is 1 rocky and sterile ; ' 
with infrequent breaks of olive-woods, 1 fields, and a 
The western ** ew villages. This bareness is not because 
flank. D f steepness ; on the contrary, the descent, 

which is unbroken, is also gradual — only some 1800 feet 
in eighteen miles. The whole flank lies in contrast to the 
border of precipices and defiles which runs down the west 
of Judaea ; and, whether you ascend by its valleys or by 
its broad ridges, you find the way easy and open. That 
little history was enacted upon this flank of Mount 
Ephraim seems to be due to — besides the comparative 
sterility of the soil — the impossibility of anywhere making 
a stand, the uselessness of anywhere building a fortress. 

On the water-parting, the one pass conspicuous from 
the sea is that in which Shechem lies between Ebal and 
The eastern Gerizim. It crosses to the eastern side of the 
flank. range, and is thence continued by a valley 

with a strong southerly trend, the present Wady el Ifjim, 
which runs out upon the Jordan below the Horn 01 
Promontory of Surtabeh, and divides the eastern flank of 
Mount Ephraim into two distinct sections. South of the 
Wady el Ifjim, Mount Ephraim presents to Eastern 
Palestine a high bulwark of mountain closely piled, with 
wild corries running up it — the most difficult corner of the 
whole frontier. Seen from Nebo it looks inaccessible. 
The descent is over 2800 feet in nine miles, or three times 
the gradient of the western flank. But north of the Wady 
el Ifjim and the Horn of Surtabeh, the flank of Mount 
Ephraim opens, and a series of broad valleys descend 
through it from the interior. From the water-parting the 
level drops 2500 feet in ten miles. Opposite the centre of 

1 Robinson, L*R. h 135. 



Samaria 327 

the province the hills fall dose on Jordan, but farther 
north they recede to a distance of five miles, and at Beth- 
shan they turn away westward in the range of Gilboa, 
leaving the valley of Jezreel to run up on the north of 
them towards the Mediterranean. 

Within these compact bulwarks Mount Ephraim sur- 
prises us with the number of its plains, meadows, and 
spacious vales. These begin from the north, The central 
with the gap between Carmel and Gilboa, P lams - 
through which a broad gulf of Esdraelon gapes for seven 
miles to Jenin. Thence a succession of level spaces, more 
or less connected, spreads southwards through the centre of 
the province to within a few miles of its southern border. 
First from Jenin is the Plain of Dothan, 1 reached by an 
easy pass through low hills ; thence another easy pass 
leads to a series of spacious meadows lying across the 
country from the south end of Mount Gilboa to the range 
of hills which bulwark the city of Samaria on the north ; 2 
and thence another easy pass leads to a third series of 
plains running south past the Vale of Shechem into the 
great Sahel Mukhneh opposite Gerizim. Now upon this 
succession of level lands running south from Esdraelon, 
there emerge valleys, — both those that come up from 
Sharon and those that come up from Jordan. Of the 
former the chief is the broad Barley- Vale, Wady esh 

1 The modern Sahel 'Arrabeh. Robinson {Phys. Geogr., 122) describes it 
as a bay or offset of the Plain of Esdraelon ; but it is separated from the 
latter by low hills. Wellhausen {Hist. p. 39) describes it as merging into 
Sharon, but a long pass connects them ; see p. 151. 

2 Cf. P.E.F. Mem. ii. Samaria, 38. Trel. Saunders, Introd. to Survey, 136. 
The Plains of 'Arrabeh, Selhab and Zebabdeh drain to the Mediterranean ; 
the Merj el Ghuruk has no outlet. In May 1891, when we passed, it held a 
great shallow lake; cf. Robinson, B.R. iii. 153. The Mukhneh drains tc 
Jordan. 



328 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Sha'ir, which sweeps up past Samaria upon Shechem. In 
this direction, too, the gentle ridges offer almost everywhere 
easy access from the coast On the other side running 
down into Jordan, there are the Wady Far'ah, that winds 
from a little south of Shechem to opposite the Jabbok, — 
the trunk road to the east, and to-day partly the route of 
the telegraph wire from Nablus to Es-Salt ; farther north 
the Bukeia, or Little-Dale ; then the Salt- Vale, or Wady 
el Maleh, that issues at Abel-Meholah, and, lastly, the 
Wady el Khashneh, with the ancient road from Shechem 
to Bethshan, up which came, perhaps Pompey, and cer- 
tainly Vespasian. All these are the outgoings of Mount 
Ephraim} broad, fertile, and of easy gradients. But 
besides these, and even where the mountains crowd most 
thickly together, in the south-east corner of the province 
there are frequent meadows and corn lands. Travellers 
from Judaea will remember the open vales which they 
crossed before they reached the Mukhneh ; and of the less 
visited country to the east, Robinson says : ' It was a 
matter of surprise to us to find in this great break-down of 
the mountains so much good land ; so many fine and 
arable, though not large, plains.' 2 

I. Therefore the openness of Samaria is her most 
prominent feature, and tells most in her history. Few 
x ^ ^ invaders were successfully resisted. It is a 

I. The Open- J 

ness of singular fact that we have no account of the 

Samaria. 

invasion by Israel. Bethel falls, and after that 
the tribe of Joseph, to whom the region is allotted, express 
no fear, record no struggle, till they come to the Plain of 
Esdraelon and the cities of the Canaanites at Bethshan 

1 Josh. xvii. 18. 8 L.R., 296. 



Samaria 



329 



and Jezreel. 1 Under the invasion of the Canaanites, 
Israel's native law could be administered only in the 
extreme south-east, between Ramah and Bethel, where 
stood the palm-tree of Deborah. 2 In the days of Gideon 
the Midianites swept south from the Plain of Esdraelon. 
so that the use of the open threshing-floors was impossible 
even at Ophrah. 8 In Elisha's time, the Syrians, by 
apparently annual invasions, swept westward as far as the 
citadel of Samaria, behind the watershed. The Assyrians 
overwhelmed the land, and carried off the greater part of 
the population. In the Book of Judith Holofernes is 
represented as easily bringing in his army from Esdraelon 
by the series of plains described above. 4 Vespasian, seek- 
ing to blockade Judaea, marched from Antipatris by 
Shechem to Korea, and thence to Jericho and back again, 
and then to Gophna, Ephraim and back again, incredible 
as it seems, within a week. 6 And Titus came easily upon 
Jerusalem from Caesarea past Gophna and Bethel. 6 How 
differently all this reads from the history of the invasion of 
Judaea through her narrow defiles — the sallies from the 
hills, the ambushes of the Wady 'Ali, the routs down by 
the two Beth-horons and Ajalon ! 

One very interesting effect of the openness of Samaria 
is the frequency with which the chariot appears in her 
history. In the annals of Judah chariots are C hariot- 
but seldom mentioned. 7 All the long drives drivin e- 
of the Old Testament are in Samaria, — the race of Ahab 

1 Josh. xvii. 14. 2 Judges iv. 5. 

8 Perhaps Ferata, south-west from Shechem (Conder). Judges vi. II. 

4 Bethulia must be sought for somewhere about the Merj el Ghuruk 
See p. 356. B Jos. iv. Wars, viii. , ix., x. 6 Id. v. Wars, ii. I. 

7 See Appendix, on Roads and Wheeled Vehicles in Syria from the earliest 
times to the present. 



330 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



against the storm from Mount Carmel to Jezreel ; 1 his 
long funeral in his battle- chariot stained with his life- 
blood, from Ramoth-Gilead to Samaria, and they washed 
his cliariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up 
his blood'* the drive of Jehu from Ramoth-Gilead past 
Bethshan and up the valley of Jezreel, and as he came 
near, the watchman in Jezreel told, saying, . . . the drivi?ig 
is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he driveth 
furiously ; and J or am said, Yoke, and they yoked his chariot, 
and J oram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went 
out each in his chariot to meet Jehu, and found him in the 
portion of Naboth the Jezreelite; the chariot race from there 
between Jehu and poor Ahaziah by the way of the garden 
house, the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam, where Ahaziah 
was smitten, and Megiddo, where he died, and his servants 
carried him in a cho,riot to Jerusalem ; 3 Jehu's drive again 
from Jezreel to Samaria, and he lighted on Jehonadab the 
son of Rechab coming to meet him, and he gave him his 
hand, and took him up into the chariot, and said, Come with 
me and see my zeal for the Lord ; 4 and the long drive of 
Naaman from Damascus, across the level Hauran, over 
Jordan and up Jezreel, with his horses and his chariots, to 
the house of Elisha, presumably at Samaria, and the drive 
back again, and the pursuit by Gehazi, and when Naaman 
saw one running after him, he lighted down from his chariot 
to meet him. b Contrast all this with the two meagre 
references to chariot-driving in Judaea — in the one case 
the chariot carried a corpse, in the other a dying man 6 — 
and you get an illustration of the difference between the 



1 I Kings xviii. 44 ff. 
8 2 Kings ix. 16 ff. 
8 2 Kings v. 9 ff. 



3 1 Kings xxii. 29 ff. 

* 2 Kings x. 12, 15 ff. 

e 2 Kings ix. 28 ; 2 Chron. xxxv. 24 



Samaria 



33* 



level stretches of Samaria, and the steep, tortuous roads 
of her sister province. Perhaps the prophet intends to 
emphasise this contrast in his verse : / will cut off the 
chariot from Ephrahn, and the horse from ferusalem. 1 

Far more important than chariots, more important even 
than the easy invasion by enemies, is that effect of 
Samaria's openness, to which allusion was p recocityof 
made in the beginning of this chapter. Judaea, Samana - 
earning from outsiders little but contempt, inspired the 
people, whom she so carefully nursed in seclusion from 
the world, with a patriotism that has survived two thou- 
sand years of separation, and still draws her exiles from 
the fairest countries of the world to pour their tears upon 
her dust, though it be among the most barren the world 
contains. Samaria, fair and facile, lavished her favours on 
foreigners, and was oftener the temptation than the dis- 
cipline, the betrayer than the guardian, of her own. The 
surrounding paganism poured into her ample life ; and 
although to her was granted the honour of the first great 
victories against it — Gideon's and Elijah's — she suffered 
the luxury that came after to take away her crown. 
From Amos to Isaiah the sins she is charged with are 
those of a civilisation that has been ripe, and is rotten — 
drunkenness, clumsy art, servile imitation of foreigners, 
thoughtlessness and cruelty. For these she falls, and her 
summer beauty is covered by the mud of a great deluge. 
The crown of the pride of the drunkards of EpJiraim is 
trodden under foot, and the fading flower of his glorious 
beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as the 
first ripe fig before the smnmer, which when he that hath 
caught sight of it, seeth it, while it is yet in his hand, he 
1 Zech. ix. io. 



332 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



eateth it up} Poor province, she grew^ ripe and was 
ravished before the real summer of her people ! 

II. The second characteristic of Samaria is her central 
and dominant position. Jerusalem has acquired such 
stupendous historical importance that we are 

II. The Cen- ... , ,111 

trai Position apt to imagine her as the natural head and 
centre of the land. But nothing comes with 
greater surprise upon the visitor to Palestine than to 
discover that, with all her advantages of defence, Jerusalem 
lies on a barren and awkward site, and that both natural 
and historical precedence have to be given, not to Mount 
Zion and the City of David, but to Mount Ebal and 
Mount Gerizim, with Shechem between them. 

We have noticed how this suggests itself even before we 
touch the land. In the Central Range of Western Pales- 
tine, as seen from the sea, the only sign of a 
pass is that between Ebal and Gerizim, whose 
summits so conspicuously rise above the general level of 
the sky-line. It is the same on the other side of the land. 
Seen from Moab, the Central Range runs unbroken, save 
by the narrowest of corries. But stand farther north, on 
the hills of Gilead, opposite Ephraim — on Jebel 'Oshea, 
above Es-Salt, or on the high castle of Er-Rubad, above 
'Ajlun — and there open to you across Jordan the mouths 
of valleys which run up to the great plains in front of 
Shechem. There is thus a pass right across Samaria, from 
the coast to Jordan, and just where it pierces the water- 

1 One interesting proof of how Samaria was permeable from the west is 
shown in Beit Dejan, i.e. the House of Dagpn, the name of a village six and 
a half miles south-east of Shechem. Cf. also the name Amalek (Judges v. 
14, xii. 15). This, however, is perhaps due to some Arab element which, 
like the Kenites in the south of Judah, entered the land along with Israel. 



Samaria 



333 



shed, with Ebal on one side and Gerizim on the other, 
Shechem lies at the parting of the waters, some of its 
fountains flowing seawards, the rest towards Jordan. Joppa, 
down an open incline, stands three or four miles nearer 
than to Jerusalem. Csesarea is but thirty miles away ; 
Jenin, the gateway to Esdraelon, eighteen ; Bethshan 
twenty-five ; while none of the roads which fall directly to 
the east take more than eighteen miles to reach the fords 
of Jordan. We have also seen that from Mount Ebal all 
the chief features and most of the borders of the land are 
visible. 1 There is one other token to add. To-day Shechem 
is the seat of the government of the province, and — eloquent 
homage of civilisation to its immemorial rank — it is the 
connecting link of the telegraphic systems of the east and 
west of Jordan. 

It is therefore in full harmony with the geographical 
data that the story of the patriarchs brings both Abraham 
and Jacob, on their entrance into the Promised Historical 
Land, at once to Shechem, 2 and that the Book P roofs - 
of Deuteronomy selects Ebal and Gerizim as the scene of 
a great inaugural service by all Israel on taking possession 
of the country — a service the performance of which the 
Book of Joshua duly records. Both of these passages, in 
Deuteronomy and in Joshua, are from the hands of a 
writer, the Deuteronomist, whose ruling principle is the 
centralisation of Israel's worship in one sanctuary, and 
that ostensibly Jerusalem. His mention of Ebal, there- 
fore — and it is the only sacred site which he names — 
stands out in all the greater relief, as a proof of the 

1 Book I. ch. vi., The View from Mount Ebal. 

J Abraham, Gen. xii. 6 (J) ; Jacob, Gen. xxxiii. 18 (P and probably also E, 
ef. xxxiv.). 



334 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



natural attractiveness and central position of the district 
of Shechem. 1 After the disruption of Israel, these qualities 
of Shechem were not found to atone for her weakness as 
a fortress, and she soon ceased to be the capital of the 
Northern Kingdom. It was to the Samaritans that the 
district owed the revival of its claims to be considered the 
religious centre of the land. But this was in the interest 
of as narrow and exclusive a sectarianism as ever sought 
to monopolise the liberal intentions of nature. The abuse 
was gloriously atoned for. It was by this natural capital 
of the Holy Land, from which the outgoings to the world 
are so many and so open, that the religion of Israel rose 
once for all above every geographical limit, and the charter 
of a universal worship was given. Neither in this mountain, 
nor yet at Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father ; but the 
hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall 
worship the Father in spirit and in truth? 

1 Deut. xxvii. and Josh. viii. 30 ff. The former is a very difficult chapter. 
It breaks the connection between xxvi. and xxviii., and is evidently compiled 
from several distinct narratives (Dillmann in loco, and Driver, Introd. 88). 
But these all agree that a great national service was to take place at Shechem 
soon after the crossing of Jordan, of which Josh. viii. 30 ff. (Deut.) recounts 
the performance in harmony with the Deuteronomist portions of Deut. xxvii. 
That the only sanctuary mentioned by the Book of Deuteronomy should be 
the capital of Samaria, is surely an element to be taken into consideration of 
the question whether that book arose out of an agitation in favour of a central 
sanctuary at Jerusalem. If it did, it is strange that Ebal is so honoured, 
while Jerusalem is not once mentioned. 

2 Among other assumptions, the Samaritans fixed on Gerinm as the site of 
the offering of Isaac, and this is supported by Stanley {Sinai and Palestine, 
note to ch. v.) on the ground that Gerizim is visible from a great distance, as 
Mount Moriah in Jerusalem is not. Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the 
place afar off {vex. 4). But the vagueness of the phrases the land of Moriah 
and one of the mountains (ver. 2) prevents us from fixing on any definite hill ; 
while there is every reason to believe that Moriah is not the original reading, 
but is a gloss of late origin, and inserted in order to give the Temple at 
Jerusalem the credit of the patriarchal narrative, Cf. Baudissin, Stiui. « 



Samaria 



335 



III. The third feature of Samaria is her connection with 
Eastern Palestine. This connection has existed from the 
earliest times, with the one great interruption m C onnec- 
of the Samaritan schism, down to the present ^Susm 1 
day. Both Abraham and Jacob came from the Pafcstme- 
East to Shechem. Israel, leaving to Ammon and Moab 
the regions of Eastern Palestine which are opposite Judah, 
herself occupied those which march with Samaria. In this 
latitude, one tribe, Manasseh, was settled on both sides of 
the river ; 1 another, Ephraim, gave its name not only to 
the western mountains, but to a wood or jungle on the 
eastern side ; 2 for a time in the days of the Judges, 
Midianites, sons of the East, swept annually across Jordan, 

Semit. Religions-gesch. ii. 252; Dillmann on Gen. xxvii., and Henderson's 
Palestine, § 48. 

1 See Chs. xxv. and xxvi. for the Eastern Conquests of Israel. 

2 Forest or Jungle of Ephraim, in which the battle took place between 
David and Absalom (2 Sam. xviii. 6). Reuss {in loco) insists that a forest 
with the name Ephraim could have lain only west of Jordan. He claims that 
this position agrees with the course of the narrative which represents the 
bearer of the news to David, who was at Mahanaim, taking the direction of 
the Jordan Valley, which he naturally would have done had he started from 
the west of the river, and explains the absence of any mention of David's force 
recrossing the river to meet Absalom by supposing gaps in the narrative. 
Putting aside this arbitrary hypothesis, by which one might prove anything, I 
may point out that both messengers had to run from the scene of Absalom's 
defeat to David, and ask, if that was on the west of Jordan, how could it be 
said that only one of the messengers ran from it by way of the plain (ver. 23)? 
This disposes of Reuss' conjecture, and proves the forest to have been east of 
the river. Lucian's recension of the LXX. gives Maaivdv (for D^flD) instead 
of Ephraim as the name of the forest. But this is just the kind of correction 
Lucian would make to relieve a difficulty. And, indeed, why should it be 
thought unlikely that the name Ephraim should have crossed the river, and 
fastened on the eastern bank? In the course of the history of that tribe, 
especially in the days of the Judges, a hundred adventures were likely to occur 
to cause the Ephraimites, who so frequently passed over, to leave their name 
behind them when they went back. Or a colony may easily have settled 
there. And, in fact, we do read of Ephraimites settling in Gilead in such 
large numbers that the western Ephraimites call the Gileadites fugitives from 
Ephraim (Judges xii. 4). 



336 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



and up to the recesses of Mount Ephraim ; Gideon drove 
them back, and the rout extended from Esdraelon to 
Heshbon ; it was from a rendezvous in Ephraim that Saul, 
though a Benjamite, marched to the relief of Jabesh Gilead. 1 
As before the disruption the trans-Jordanic provinces were 
connected with the tribe of Joseph, so after it they fell to 
that tribe's successor, Northern Israel ; as formerly the 
Midianites made yearly incursions across the river, so now 
the Syrians. Jeroboam, the first king, fortified Penuel after 
fortifying Shechem, 2 and Ramoth-Gilead was a garrison 
and outpost under Ahab, from which chariots drove to 
Jezreel and Samaria. 3 Elijah, the prophet of Samaria, 
was from Tishbeh in Gilead ; Elisha crossed Jordan to 
anoint Jehu. After the exile, the impotence of the Samari- 
tans naturally broke the connection of their territory with 
the land over Jordan, and Perea, as the latter was now 
called, formed the link between Galilee and Judaea. 4 
But in modern times the old relation has reasserted 
itself, and the eastern table-land is again governed from 
Nablus. 

The reason of this immemorial connection is very clear. 
We have seen that a number of valleys lead down through 
Mount Ephraim upon Jordan, while the Plain 
of Esdraelon, with its offsets into Northern 
Samaria, presents a still more easy highway in the same 
direction. Now, to Esdraelon and those passes the Jordan, 
dangerous river as it is, offers an extraordinary number 
of fords ; while farther south, where the passes into the 
Western Range are few and more difficult, there are in 

1 From Bezek, probably Khurbet Ibzik, thirteen miles north-east from 
Shechem, on the road down to Bethshan. 

* 1 Kings xii. 25. 3 1 Kings xxii. ; a Kings ix. 

* Though Bethshan went with Decapolis. 



Samaria 



337 



Jordan hardly any fords. 1 The passage, therefore, from 
Samaria to Gilead was a comparatively easy one at many 
points ; hence their frequent invasions of each other, and 
their long political union. With this contrast the separation 
of Judaea from the east by the great gulf of the Dead Sea. 

In connection with the chariots above mentioned, Ahab's, 
Jehu's, and Naaman's, the question naturally rises, How 
did they cross Jordan ? Till the Romans came The fords 
there were no bridges in Palestine. Like the of Jordan, 
name for port, the name for bridge does not occur in the 
Old Testament, probably because the thing itself was quite 
unknown. It is unlikely that chariots were driven across 
the river, for the shallowest ford is three feet deep, and the 
bottom very muddy. Either the body of the chariot was 
floated over, as baggage is still floated, by inflated skins, 
or else such broad ferry-boats existed as Caesar found in 
use on the rivers of Gaul. 2 



I V. The fourth feature of Samaria is her connection with 
Carmel. To Samaria Carmel holds much the same place 

1 On the Survey map not more than five fords are marked south of the Horn 
of Surtabeh, but at least twenty-two north of this. 

3 Bell. Gall. iii. 29. The depth of the fords on Jordan is very variable. 
Burckhardt tells of one two hours south-east from Beisan, which was three feet 
deep {Syria, 344, 345) ; Lynch, of one that a small donkey crossed with difficulty 
{Narrative, 224). Three Hebrew forms from the same root, to cross — "QyD 

PnajJO and rnny. The first two mean both a ford (Gen. xxxii. 23, \ 

Josh. ii. 7, and several other passages, rTDyD) and a pass (1 Sam. xiii. 23 ; 
xiv. 4; Isa. x. 29). The third is used only in 2 Sam. xix. 18, and may be 
either a ford or more probably, as in the Authorised Version, a ferry, as it is 
nominative to the active verb caused to pass over. In the text of 2 Sam. xv. 
28 and xvii. 16, the plural JTTQy is used, and must mean as it stands, fords ; 
but the Hebrew margin and LXX. read FlUIJf, or plains. In Rabbinic 
Hebrew, Nin^E and rmyD both mean a ferry. In Jer. li. 32, Hitz. transl. 
mni/D by 'bridge.' 

Y 



338 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



on the west as Bashan or Gilead fills to the east. Seen 
from Ebal or Jezreel, they stand on either hand of Mount 
Ephraim, carrying the eye along the only high and 
IV Con sustained sky-lines within sight, and forming 
nectionwith with Hermon the three dominant features of 

Carmel. 

the view. Both of them, too, have always been 
better wooded than Mount Ephraim. And so, because 
they thus stand out in similar relation and in similar con- 
trast to Samaria, it does not surprise us to find them, 
though at opposite sides of the Holy Land, frequently 
mentioned together. Bashan and Carmel shake off their 
fruits. Israel shall feed in Bashan and Carmel. Feed thy 
people . . . in the forest in the midst of Carmel: let them 
feed in Bashan and Gilead. Sometimes Lebanon is added : 
Bashan languisheth, and Carmel \ and the flower of Lebanon 
languisheth. 

Though of the same rock as the Central Range, Carmel, 
as we have seen, is separated from the latter by a softer 
formation, in which the more denuded hills offer easy pas- 
sages from Sharon to Esdraelon. These hills are the so- 
called Shephelah of Israel^ as debatable ground as the 
Shephelah of Judah, but lying very much more openly 
than the latter in the line of foreign traffic and war. 
Carmel was, therefore, no integral part of the body politic 
of Samaria. The kings, indeed, of Northern Israel held it 
as they held Gilead. But, in the later history, Carmel lay 
outside the province of Samaria — sometimes reckoned to 
Galilee, sometimes taken by Tyre. 2 Nor was Carmel a 
threshold to the land : his isolated range could not be used 
by Israel, as Gilead was, for the basis of foreign campaigns. 
Indeed we have seen how all the campaigns of Syrian 

1 Josh. xi. 16. See p. 203. * Josephus, iii. Wars> iii. I. 



Samaria 



339 



history treated Carmel only as a thing to be avoided, 
sweeping past on either side of him. The ridge was so 
well cultivated that the villages must have been many, but 
there was neither site nor occasion for a large town. Car- 
mel, therefore, had no political or military history. His 
influences were all of another kind. 

Throughout the Old Testament Carmel appears either as 
a symbol or as a sanctuary. His bulk, visible from so many 
quarters of the land, makes him the picture of ^ 

^ 1 Carmel in 

all that is fact and not dream : while his head- the Old 

Testament. 

long sweep seawards is the very token of what 
will surely come and not fail. Pharaoh is but a rumour, 
do they say ? As I live, saith Jehovah, surely like Tabor 
among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, shall he 
come ! The two hills stand at opposite ends of Esdraelon, 
each separate from other hills, and imposing its bulk upon 
the plain. But Carmel's long sweep north-westward invests 
him with the appearance of having come there. Some hills 
suggest immovableness, and others, with their ' long grey- 
hound backs,' are full of motion. It is the peculiarity of 
Carmel to combine these effects, and to impress those who 
look upon him with the sense of one long stride over the 
plain and firm foothold upon the sea. It is not, however, 
only his shape that is symbolic. Sweeping seawards, 
Carmel is the first of Israel's hills to meet the rains, and 
they give him of their best. He is clothed in verdure. 
To-day it is mostly wild — fresh open jungle, coppices of 
oak and carob, with here and there a grove of great trees. 
But in ancient times most of the hill was cultivated. The 
name means The Garden, and in the rock, beneath the wild 
bush that now covers so much of it, grooved floors and 
troughs have been traced, sufficiently numerous to be the 



340 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



proof of large harvests of grape and olive. The excellency 
of Carmel was now the figure of human beauty, 1 and now 
the mirror of the lavish goodness of God ; 2 that Carmel 
should languish — Carmel in the very gateway of the rains 
— is the prophets' most desperate figure of desolation. 

But it is as a sanctuary that the long hill is best 
remembered in history. In its separation from other hills, 
Carmel and * ts position on the sea, its visibleness from all 
Ehjah. quarters of the country ; s in its uselessness for 
war or traffic ; in its profusion of flowers, its high platforms 
and groves with their glorious prospects of land and sea, 
Carmel must have been a place of retreat and of worship 
from the earliest times. It was claimed for Baal ; but, 
even before Elijah's day, an altar had stood upon it for 
Jehovah. About this altar — as on a spot whose sanctity 
they equally felt — the rival faiths met in that contest, in 
which for most of us all the history of Carmel consists. 
The story in the Book of Kings is too vivid to be told 
again ; but it is not without interest to know that the 
awful debate, whether Jehovah or Baal was supreme lord 
of the elements, was fought out for a full day in face of 
one of the most sublime prospects of earth and sea and 
heaven. Before him, who stands on Carmel, nature rises 
in a series of great stages from sea to Alp : the Medi- 
terranean, the long coast to north and south, with its hot 
sands and palms ; Esdraelon covered with wheat, Tabor 
and the lower hills of Galilee with their oaks, — then, over 
the barer peaks of Upper Galilee and the haze that is 
about them, the clear snow of Hermon, hanging like an 

1 vSong vii. 5. 2 Isaiah xxxv. 2. 

3 Carmel is visible not only from the hills of Samaria, from Jaffa, from Tyre, 
from Hermon, from the hills of Naphtali, but also from the hills behind 
Gadara, cast of Jordan, and from many other points in Gilead. 



Samaria 



34i 



only cloud in the sky. It was in face of that miniature 
universe that the Deity who was Character was vindicated 
as Lord against the deity who was not. It was over all 
that realm that the rain swept up at the call of the same 
God who exposed the injustice of the tyrant and avenged 
the wrongs of Naboth. 

V. The last great feature of Samaria was the fortresses, 
which were necessitated by the peculiar formation of the 
province, and which lay all around and across 

V. Strong 

her. But the number of them was so great, places of 
and the part they played in her history so im- 
portant, — repeating on several sites the function usually 
discharged in a country by one capital city, — that the 
description of them must be left for another chapter. 



CHAPTER XVII 
THE STRONG PLACES OF SAMARIA 



For this Chapter consult Maps V, and VI. 



THE STRONG PLACES OF SAMARIA 



AST chapter closed with the designation of her many 



J— ' fortresses as the fifth great feature of Samaria. It 
is these which this chapter is to describe. The large 
number of them was due to the openness of the land, and 
to the fact that, unlike Judaea, Samaria had no central 
position upon which her defence might be consolidated. 
Her fortresses lay all around and across her, but chiefly, 
as was natural, upon the passes which draw up to her 
centre. They were mostly built on the high isolated 
knolls, which are so frequent a feature of her scenery. 

Of those strong places, the chief was that vvhich was so 
long the capital and gave its name to the whole kingdom. 
The head of Ephraim is Samaria. 1 

This is to dethrone Shechem, the earliest capital of the 
(and, the place to which the government has gravitated 
again and again, and on which it rests to-day. Wea kness of 
But Shechem is no fortress. The natural Shechem - 
centre of the land, as we have seen, well furnished with 
water, and attracting also by its sacred associations, the 
site is, nevertheless, incapable of defence. This was dis- 
covered by Jeroboam himself, for even in his reign we find 
the court at Tirzah, 2 a strong position by the head of one of 
the eastern passes. Tirzah was retained by the following 

1 Isaiah vii. 9. 3 I Kings xiv. 17. 




346 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



dynasty, but when the next usurper, Omri, had time to 
shape his policy, he turned westward, and chose him a 
The city of y i r g m s ^e in that valley which leads down 
Samana. from Shechem to the coast, the present Wady 
esh-Sha'ir or Barley- Vale. Here, in a wide basin, formed 
by a bend of the vale and an incoming glen, rises a 
round, isolated hill over three hundred feet high. It 
was not already a city, but was probably, as it is to-day, 
covered with soil and arable to the top. Omri fortified 
it and called it Shomeron, Wartburg, the Watch Tower. 1 
The name is obviously appropriate. Although the moun- 
tains surround and overlook it on three sides, Samaria 
commands a great view to the west The broad vale 
is visible for eight miles, then a low range of hills, 
and over them the sea. It is a position out of the way 
of most of the kingdom, of which the centre of gravity 
lay upon the eastern slope ; but it was wisely chosen 
by a dynasty whose strength was alliance with Phoenicia. 
The coast is but twenty-three miles away, the sea is in 
sight. In her palace in Samaria, Jezebel can have felt 
far neither from her home nor from the symbols of her 
ancestral faith. There flashed the path of her father's 
galleys, and there each night her people's god sank to his 
rest in the same glory betwixt sky and sea, which they 
were worshipping from Tyre. 

But the position has other advantages than its western 

1 from to watch, with the termination so frequent in Hebrew 

place-names. The Aramaic is j^Dt^, and it is from this that the Greek 
Zafidpeia and Latin Samaria are formed. But LXX. gives also Zefiepwv and 
Zofwpiov, and Josephus Scixapcwv (viii. Antt. xii. 5) : Stade, in Z.A.T.W., 
1885, 165-175, Der Name der Stadt Samarien u. seitu Herkunft, disputes 
the statement of 1 Kings xvi. 24, that Omri first gave the place its name, and 
takes the original form to have been {i"!DB>- 



The Strong Places of Samaria 



347 



exposure. 1 Though it would now be commanded from the 
northern range, it must before the invention of gunpowder 
have been almost impregnable.' 1 The sieges 
of Samaria were therefore always prolonged. SlegCS ' 
In Elisha's day there was the blockade by the Syrians ; 
when, behold, they besieged it, tint i I an ass's head was sold 
for fourscore shekels, and the fourth part of a kab of Dove\ 
dung for five} Even the Assyrians did not capture the 
town till after an investment of three years, 723-721. In 
331, it yielded to Alexander the Great, who visited it on 
his way back from Egypt, in order to punish the Samaritan 
murderers of the Governor he had appointed over Coele- 
Syria. 8 Ptolemy Lagos deemed it dangerous enough to 
have it dismantled before he gave over Coele-Syria to 
Antigonus : 4 and being rebuilt, it was again destroyed 
fifteen years later. 5 Fortified once more, it was able in 
120 to resist the flood-tide of Jewish conquest under John 
Hyrcanus for a year. 6 He demolished the city, but, like 
so many other places devastated by the Jews, it was rebuilt 
by Gabinius, the successor of Pompey. 7 And then as the 
site had suited the Phoenician alliance of Ahab, so it fell 

1 Major Conder, Tent Work. a 2 Kings vi. 25. 

8 Andromachus, whom they burnt alive. Q. Curtius (ed. Lemaire) cf. 
fr- 5» 9> with iv. 8, 9. Other writers add that Alexander also settled Mace- 
donians in the town. Euseb. Chron. ii. 1 14, Syncell. i. 496, both quoted by 
Schurer, Hist. Div. 11. vol. i. 123. Euseb. also speaks of Perdiccas as having 
refounded the town. 

4 Diodorus Siculus, xix. 93. 

5 Demetrius Poliorcetes in his struggle against Ptolemy. Stark, Gaza, 361, 
gives the authorities. 

• Josephus, xiii. Antt. x. 2, 3 ; i. Wars, ii. 7. The account of how Hyrcanus 
demolished Samaria is very interesting : 1 He destroyed it utterly, and brought 
streams to drown it, for he made such excavations as might let the waters run 
under it ; nay, he demolished the very signs that there had ever been so great 
a city there.' This can only mean that there was a good part of the city 
below the hill. 7 Josephus, xv. Anlt. xiv. 3 ; i. Wars, viii. 4. 



348 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



in with the Roman policy of Herod, and especially with 
his plan of building a large port at Caesarea, and holding 
the roads from the coast to the interior. Augustus gave 
Samaria to Herod, who fortified and embellished it in 
honour of his patron, and, as upon some other high places 
in Syria, a temple to Caesar arose where there had been a 
temple to Baal. 1 Herod called it Sebaste, the Greek for 
Augusta, and it is this name which has survived till now 
with the remains of his splendid colonnades and gateways. 
The Herodian town probably covered and overflowed the 
large hill ; it is said to have been not less than Uvo miles 
and a half in circumference. 2 Herod settled in it a 
number of veterans, and used it also as a recruiting-ground 
for mercenary troops. The character of its population — 
half Greek, half Samaritan — agreed with his policy of 
building fortresses for himself on what was virtually pagan 
soil ; while the thoroughly Gentile character of the soldiers 
whom he recruited, is proved by their subsequent desertion 
to the Romans, in the great Jewish revolts. 8 In spite of 
its re-creation as a colonia under Septimius Severus, 4 
Sebaste dwindled to a small town, 6 though the seat of a 
bishop, and the centre of a large civil district. The 

1 Cf. I Kings xvi. 32 with i. Wars, xxi. 2. 

3 Josephus, xv. Antt. viii. 5 ; i. Wars, xxi. 3. 

* In Josephus, xvii. Antt. x. 3, Herod's soldiers, and in 9, the city of 
Samaria, are said to have gone over to the Romans. In ii. Wars, iii. 4, and 
iv. 3, these same soldiers are called Sebastenes. The soldiers are called 
"Ze^aar-qvol, cf. also ii. Wars, xii. 5, fiiap VK-qv KaXov^ivrju Ze^aarrjyQy. These 
passages prove that the opinion is wrong which takes the aireipr) "Ze^aar^ 
of Acts xxvii. 1 for a cohort of soldiers enlisted at Sebaste. Had it been so, 
its name would have run aireipr) KcCkovixhrj "LefiaariqvCiv. It is, of course, the 
Augustan or Imperial cohort. 

4 De Saulcy, Numis. de la Terrt Sainte, p. 274, quotes from Ulpian (lib. i. 
tit. 15), and, p. 280, gives a coin of Caracalla inscribed COL. L. SEP. 
SEBASTE. 

6 The Onomasticon, sub 2o/iepuw, calls it a roXlxfi}* in the fourth century, 



The Strong Places of Samaria 349 



Crusaders restored the Episcopal See, with a great Gothic 
cathedral, whose ruins stand by the columns of Herod. 
But, since then, the town has sunk to a miserable village. 
For as long as there ruled in the land a power with no 
interests towards the coast and the sea, Samaria was forced 
to yield again to the more central Shechem the supremacy 
which Ahab and Herod, with their western obligations, had 
stolen from Shechem to give her. 

To-day, amid the peaceful beauty of the scene — the 
secluded vale covered with corn-fields, through which the 
winding streams flash and glisten into the hazy distance, 
and the gentle hill rises without a scarp to the olives 
waving over its summit — it is possible to appreciate 
Isaiah's name for Samaria, the crown of pride of Ephraim, 
the flower of his glorious beauty which is on the head of the 
fat valley} Only the more hard is it to realise how often 
such a landscape became the theatre of war and of the 
worst passions of tyranny and religious strife. 

Sinister fate to have belonged both to Ahab and to 
Herod ! There by the entrance of the gate Ahab drew 
his sentence of death from the prophet of 
Jehovah ; and there they washed his blood Ahab and 
from his chariot, when they had brought him 
back to his burial. 2 There Jezebel slew the prophets of 
Jehovah and Jehu the priests of Baal. 3 There Herod 
married Mariamne, and when in his jealousy he had slain 
her for nothing, there she haunted him, till his remorse 
1 would frequently call for her and lament for her in a most 
indecent manner, and he was so far overcome of his passion 
that he would command his servants to call for Mariamne, 



1 Isa. xxviii. I. 

e 1 Kings xviii. 13 ; 2 Kings x. 17 ff. 



I Kings xx. 



350 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



as if she were still alive and could still hear them.' 1 There, 
too, he strangled his two sons. 2 Like most of Herod's 
magnificent palaces, Sebaste was but a family shambles. 
It is not without fitness that a tradition, otherwise unjusti- 
fied, should have localised in this place of blood the execu- 
tion of John the Baptist. The church was dedicated to 
him, and his tomb is still pointed out in the rock beneath. 

On this western flank of Samaria there was no other 
town of the first rank. But the passes as they emerged 
upon Sharon must have been guarded by forts. 
Western Some hold that the present Fer'on due west of 
Strongholds. g e j- )as ^ e was pir'athon, 3 the birthplace of one of 

the judges. A much more likely site of importance, both 
in the attack and defence of the eastern border of Mount 
Ephraim, is the present Kakon, that lies a little way out 
upon the plain. Kakon commands the entrances to the 
roads up to Sebaste, and through by Dothan to Esdraelon. 
Kakon was always a frontier position. In the times of 
the Crusades it is described as the limit of the territory of 
Nablus ; 4 and in March 1799 it was at Kakon that a force 
from Nablus, coming down by the Wady esh-Sha'ir and over 
the low hills by Bela ( and Shuweikeh, met Turkish cavalry 
from Acre, and attempted to check Napoleon's march 
northward. 5 If it be in Northern Sharon that we must 
seek for the Aphek, at which the Philistines twice assem- 
bled their forces — once before invading Israel, and once 
before crossing to Esdraelon 6 — there is no more suitable 
spot than Kakon. 

1 Josephus, xv. Antt. vii. 7. * Id. xvi. Antt. xi. 7. 

8 Judges xii. 15. But see p. 355. 

4 Rohricht, Z.D.P. V., x. 246, at Kakon or Cacho, as it was then called, 
the Knights of St. John had a Casale. 

8 Guerre de V Orient : Campagncs dEgypte et de la Syrie, ii. 

6 1 Sam. iv. I ; xxix. I. But, on the various Apheks, see p. 401. 



The Strong Places of Samaria 351 



On the road from Shechem to Joppa — part of which 
runs along one of the natural frontiers between Samaria 
and the south 1 — there is no town of com- The Shechem . 
manding natural strength, except el Jit, and J°PP aroad « 
none of the names either upon the road or near it has been 
satisfactorily identified with any famous name of ancient 
history. 2 The other great road from Sharon up the southern 
frontier of Samaria to Bethel, passes nothing of import- 
ance, 3 till at the junction with the Shechem Bethel road, 
in the extreme south-west corner of Mount 

_ . ■ _ ■ . The Bethel, 

Ephraim lies Jufna. Though not mentioned Sharon road, 
in the Old Testament, 4 it must at all times Gophna- 
have played an important part in the defence or invasion 
of Samaria. Jufna is, without doubt, the Gophna of 
Josephus. It was head of a toparchy in Judaea. 8 Judas 
Maccabeus fell back on Gophna after his defeat by 

1 The Wady Kanah, see p. 249. 

2 On the whole road and its neighbourhood cf. Robinson, L.R., 133-141. 
El Jit is probably the TLttuv or TitOCov of early Christian writers, who give 
it as the birthplace of the Samaritan, Simon Magus, Acts viii. 9 ; Just. Mart. 
Apolog. 11; Euseb. H.E. ii. I, 13, etc. El Funduk is the Phondeka 
of the Talmud, doubtless an ancient inn, ravZoK^tov^ by the wayside (cf. 
Neubauer, Giog. Talm. 172). Fer'ata, to the east of Funduk, has been sug- 
gested both for Pir'athon (see above) and Gideon's Ophrah. ' Ophra . . . 
nicht zu weit von Sichem u. Tebes, wohl im sudosten des westmanassitischen 
Gebietes zu suchen.'— Budde, Bit. Ri. u. Sa. 107. Kefr Thilth, on the Wady 
Kanah, has been claimed as Baal Shalisha (2 Kings iv. 42); the last spur of 
hill which the road descends is occupied by a village (Hableh), a good site, 
unidentified ; and a little more than a mile out on the plain is Jiljuliyeh, 
doubtless an ancient Gilgal, but not (as Robinson suggests) the place men- 
tioned in Joshua xii. 23, where with the LXX. we ought rather to read 
Galilee. 

8 Kibbiah, which lies to the south among the hills north-east from Lydda, is 
probably Gibbethon, which Northern Israel sought to take from the Philistines 
(1 Kings xv. 27). Timnath-heres (Judges ii. 9), Timnath-serah (Joshua xix. 
50 ; xxiv. 30), the city of Joshua has been placed at Kefr Haris, nine milet 
south of Shechem. " v 

4 Unless it be the 'Ophni of Benjamin (Joshua xviii. 24). 

• Josephus, iii. Wars, iii. 5. 



352 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Antiochus Epiphanes ; 1 and it was occupied both by 
Vespasian in his blockade of Judsea and by Titus in 
his advance upon Jerusalem. Whether Paul was taken to 
Caesarea by this way or by Beth-horon is uncertain. 2 

The southern frontier of Samaria was defended, when it 
lay so far south, 3 by Bethel, and by the city of Ephraim or 
Ephron, 4 if the conjecture be correct that the latter is the 
present strong village Et-Taiyibeh, on the road up from 
Jericho. Behind these outposts, the avenues northward 
strongholds are covere d by a series of strongholds, chiefly 
Southern on ^ e to P s °^ high, knolls, like Jiljilia, pro- 
Frontier, bably the Gilgal of Elijah's last journey, 5 
Sinjil, a Saint Giles of Crusading times, 6 and Kuriyat, 
one of the sites proposed for Korea, 7 which Pompey occu- 
pied on his march from Scythopolis to Jericho. Some- 
where near Korea lay the Hasmonaean fortress of 
Alexandrium — 'a stronghold fortified with the utmost 
magnificence, and situated on a high mountain.' 8 Alex- 
andrium played a frequent part in the civil wars of the 
Jews, in the Roman invasions, and in Herod's 

Alexandrium. . . . 

life. Pompey occupied it. Gabmius besieged 
it, during which siege Mark Antony greatly distinguished 

1 Josephus, i. Wars, i. 5. 

2 Robinson, Bib. Res. in. 77 ff. ; L.R., 138. 3 See p. 250 f. 

4 2 Sam. xiii. 23 ; 2 Chron. xiii. 19, Hebrew text Ephron ; Hebrew margin 
Ephraim,' John xi. 54; the city to which our Lord retired before the pass- 
over. It was the Aphairema of 1 Mace. xi. 34; xiii. Antt. iv. 9, one of 
three toparchies taken from Samaria and added to Judsea (see p. 254), about 
145 B.C. Cf. Schiir. Hist. Div. 1, vol. i. 246. Schlatter, Z. Topog. u. Gesch. 
Pal. 243-246, quotes Ilecataus in support of opinion that it was Alexander 
who ceded these districts to the Jews (?). 

5 2 Kings ii. 1. 

6 Sinjil, a casale or manor of the Order of St. John, was presented to them 
by a Robert of St. Giles, Prutz, Z.D.P. V. iv. 166. Hence its name : one 0/ 
the few which the Crusaders stamped on the land. 

7 Robinson, Bib. Res. iii. 83. 8 Josephus, i. Wars, vi. 5. 



The Strong Places of Samaria 



353 



himself. 1 Herod confined Mariamne within it, 2 and buried 
his two strangled sons there, ' where their uncle by their 
mother's side, and the greatest part of their ancestors had 
been deposited.' 3 Neither Korea nor Alexandrium has 
been identified past doubt. If Kuriyat be Korea, Alex- 
andrium, no resemblance of which name survives any- 
where, may be the Mejdel Beni Fadl, from which a 
Roman road went down to Phasaelis or Khurbet Bkt. el 
Kusr farther south. 4 But some recognise Korea in 
Kurawa, a name at the mouth of the Wady Far'ah on 
the Jordan Valley, and place Alexandrium above it on the 
prominent Horn of Surtabeh. Till traces of the name 
Alexandrium be discovered, the matter must remain 
uncertain. 6 

We are now round upon the eastern flank of Samaria. 
At no time do the passes penetrating this appear to have 

1 Josephus, xiv. Antt. v. 2-4. 2 Id. xv. Antt. vii. I. 

3 Josephus, xvi. Antt. xi. 7. 

4 Mejdel B. Fadl is 2146, Kh. Bkt. el Kusr 2906 feet above the sea. 

8 Not Gildemeister, Z.D.P.V., 1881, p. 245 as Schurer says (Hist. Div. I. 
vol. 1. 320 n.), is the author of the proposal of Kurawa and Surtabeh; but 
Zschokke, who made it in 1866 in Bcitrage z. Topogr. der westl. Jordan's Au 
(Jerusalem, 1866). The case between the two proposed Koreas is this : (1) 
Josephus says ' Pompey passed by Pella and Scythopolis, he came to Korea, 
which is the first entrance into Judaea, when one comes through the inlands ' 
(xiv. Antt. 3, 4). This suits both Kurawa and Kuriyat, for both are on what 
was then the frontier between Samaria and Judaea. (2) Pompey took Korea 
and Alexandrium on the way from Scythopolis to Jericho. His straightest 
line of march would be down the Ghor, and therefore past Kurawa. But this 
road down the Ghor was both dangerous and very warm : it was really not 
longer to come up into Mount Ephraim as far as Korea, and then go down 
to Jericho. (3) There is no city, village, or ruin called Kurawa ; but there 
is a village at Kuriyat. (4) On Surtaba there are ruins, but not corre- 
sponding to Josephus' account of the size of Alexandrium. No other passage 
in which the latter is mentioned throws any light on its locality. The 
question is thus by no means so clear as Schurer feels, who decides in 
favour of Kurawa and Surtabeh. — Further on Alexandrium, see Strabo, 
hvL ii. 41. Cf. Clermont-Ganneau, P.K.F.Q. t 1S90. p. 79. 

Z 



354 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



been protected by fortresses, where they issued on the 
Jordan Valley. The kings of Israel held both sides of the 
The eastern Jordan, and built their fortresses to the east of 
frontier. itf Uke j er oboam's Penuel and Ahab's Ramoth ; 
while the towns which the Herodian dynasty built in 
the Jordan Valley were not intended for military, but 
Phasaeiis, *° r agricultural, purposes. Herod the Great 
Archeiais! founded Phasaeiis, at the mouth of the Wady 
Ifjim ; and the [ village ' which his son Archelaus built 
and called after himself, Archeiais, probably lay close by 
it to the south. The district is very fertile, but had not 
been cultivated before it was thus colonised. It became 
one of the famous gardens of Syria, and its palm-groves 
stretched till they met those of Jericho. 1 

But if the eastern passes of Mount Ephraim had nc 
fortresses by their mouths in the Jordan Valley, they haa 
several guarding their upper ends. Thus, there were Bezek 



1 Josephus (xvi. Antt. v. 2 ; i. Wars, xxi. 9), Pliny (H.N. v. 15), and 
other ancient writers speak of the palms of Jericho, Phasaeiis, Archeiais, and 
Livias ; cf. Ptolemy, v. 16, 7. Herod left Phasaeiis to Salome (xvii. Antt. 
viii. 1, ii. Wars, vi. 3). She bequeathed Phasaeiis and Archeiais, ' where is a 
great plantation of palm-trees' (xviii. Antt. ii. 2), 'her plantation of palm- 
trees that was in Phasaeiis' (ii. Wars, ix. 1), to Julia, wife of Augustus. 
Brocardus (twelfth century) mentions the village Phasellum in the Ghor, and 
Eli Smith discovered the name Fusail attached to ruins, a great spring and 
the wady. The position of Phasaeiis, therefore, is beyond doubt. But the 
name of Archeiais has not been found. Josephus calls it a ' village ' (xvii. 
Antt. xiii. 1), and obviously puts it near Neara — probably Noopdd of the 
Onom., five miles from Jericho. The Tabul. Peuting. fixes it on the Roman 
road, twelve miles north of Jericho. If we take this figure as right (another, 
stating that Archeiais is only twenty-four miles from Scythopolis, is wrong, 
since the whole distance from Jericho to Scythopolis is forty-eight, not 
fifteen, as Schurer puts it, Div. 1. vol. ii. 41), that would bring us to a heap of 
ruins, nearly two miles south of Phasaeiis, at the mouth of the W. Unkur edh 
Dhib. The P.E.F. map places Archeiais at the mouth of the W. Far'ah, 
and Boettger ( Topogr. Hist.^exicon zu den Schrifitn des Fl. Josephus) at 
Buseiliych, in the same valley. 



The Strong Places of Samaria 355 



on the high-road from Shechem to Bethshan, Tirzah (if 
Tirzah be Teiasir, and not, as is more probable, Tulluzah) 
at the junction of the Bethshan and Abel- Bezek( Xirzah> 
Meholah roads, and Thebez at the, top of the Thebez - 
road down the Bukei'a. Some fortress must surely have 
covered the top of the Wady Far'ah — Pir'athon, I would 
suggest, the name of which contains the same radicals as 
Far'ah, and is probably the same as the Pharathoni that is 
combined in First Maccabees with Thamnatha, another 
name of which there are echoes in the district 1 At the top 
of Wady el Ifjim stood Taanath-Shiloh. 2 

On the northern frontier the fortresses were of still 
greater importance. We have seen that from the Plain of 
Esdraelon there leads southward into the very 

• P , r Strongholds 

heart of the province a succession of open of the north- 
plains, connected by easy passes. It is the ernfrontler * 
widest avenue into both Samaria and Judaea, 3 and has an 
issue to Sharon as well as to Esdraelon. It was, there- 
fore, sought not only by the invaders of Israel from the 
north, but by those from east and west 4 as well. The 
writer of the Book of Judith, whether his book The Book 
be real history or not, amply testifies to the of Judith, 
strategical importance of this line of entrance into 
Samaria. He calls its various steps the ' Anabaseis of 
the hill-country, for by them is the entry into Judaea,' and 

1 For Pir'athon, jlfljnD, see Judges xii. 13-15. TV BafivaOh <papa6iovl 
(1 Mace. ix. 50) is evidently one place ; and the da/xvada, Timnah perhaps, 
may be still recognised in the name Tammun, so common now at the head of 
Wady Far'ah. 

2 Josh. xvi. 6 : identified by Van de Velde with Ta'ana. 
* Even Judaea, as the Book of Judith emphasises. 

4 So the Midianites penetrated Mount Ephraim so far as to make the 
Israelites hide themselves even at Ophi ah (Judges vi. 11) ; and the Philistines 
appear to have come by this way (1 Sam. iv.). 



356 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



says, 1 it is easy to stop the invaders as they advance (the 
pass being narrow) in double file at most' 1 

Commanding the passes and plains are a series of 
promontories and isolated knolls ; some of these were 
Samaria's northern fortresses. The Book of 

Geba 

Dothan, Judith mentions three, of which the farthest 
Bethuha. g^^ was another Dothan, both still so 

called, and a third Bethulia, whose name cannot be 
recovered with any certainty — it may lurk in Meselieh 
or Meithalun, or have been succeeded by Sanur. 2 

At the mouth of the pass which leads from Esdraelon lay 
En-gannim, the present Jenin. This was never a fortress, 
for it is strong only in water, but was known 
* enin * as the frontier town between the later Samaria 
and Galilee. 3 Seven miles north of Jenin, across the 
plain, on a cape of Gilboa, with a view that 
sweeps Esdraelon east and west, stood Jezreel. 
It was built by the same dynasty which built Samaria, 

1 . . . ras dva/3d<ms t??s dpeivrjs 8rt St' clvtup fjv etcroSos els tt\v 'lovSalav, 
Kal ?)v evxepuis StaKcSKOcrai avroi/s Trpoa^alvovras, arevys T7?r TrpoajHaaeus oti<ri]$ eir' 
AvSpas tovs irdvTas Svo (Book of Judith iv. 7). The extract is from the letter 
of the high priest charging the inhabitants of this neighbourhood to hold the 
passes. The last remark is exaggerated. 

2 Geba, Judith iii. 10. Dothan was a strong place in Elisha's time, 
2 Kings vi. 13 ; in Judith it is called Dothaim, iv. 6, vii. 3, 18, viii. 3. 
Bethulia, the chief stronghold of Israel against Holofernes, iv. 6, vi. 10, 11, 
14, vii. 1-20, etc., is placed at Meselieh by Conder, Handbook, p. 289; 
Sanur, the fortress which in 1830 stood a long siege before it yielded, has 
also been suggested with great probability ; it is certainly the chief fortress 
on the line. Professor Marta (quoted in Z.D.P. V. xii. 117), on topographical 
grounds, says Bethulia was near the modern el-Barid, N.W. of Jenin, and be- 
lieves to have found in the present Kh. Haraik el Mellah, an Arabic repetition 
of the name Beit-Falo, which stands for Bethulia in the Syriac translation. 

8 In Old Testament only, Joshua xix. 21, xxi. 29. Josephus calls it T^d, 
ii. Wars, xii. 3, Tivala, xx. Antt. vi. I, iii. Wars, iii. 4. The two former 
passages describe a bitter quarrel at Ginaea between the Galilean pilgrims to 
Jerusalem and the Samaritans, which illustrates the leelings described in 
Luke iz. $2 ff. 



The Strong Places of Samaria 357 



and, like Samaria, lay convenient to their alliance with 
Phoenicia. Jezreel also covered the highways from the 
coast to Jordan and from Egypt to Damascus. 1 

As you look from Jezreel eastward, there is visible in the 
distance down Esdraelon another fortress, Bethshan, the 
position of which, and its peculiar relation to the province 
of Samaria and to the whole of Western Palestine, demands 
some description. 

The broad Vale of Jezreel comes gently down between 
Gilboa and the hills of Galilee. Three miles after it has 
opened round Gilboa to the south, but is still 
guarded by the northern hills, it suddenly drops 
over a bank some three hundred feet high into the valley 
of the Jordan. This bank, or lip, which runs north and 
south for nearly five miles, is cut by several streams falling 
eastward in narrow ravines, in which the black basalt lies 
bare, and the water breaks noisily over it. Near the edge 
of the lip, and between two of the ravines, rises a high, 
commanding mound that was once the citadel of Bethshan, 
the other quarters of which lay southward, divided by 
smaller streams. The position, which may be further 
fortified by scattering the abundant water till marshes 
are formed, 2 is one of great strength and immense pro- 
spect. The eye sweeps from four to ten miles of plain all 
round, and follows the road westward to Jezreel, covers 
the thickets of Jordan where the fords lie, and ranges the 
edge of the eastern hills from Gadara to the Jabbok. It 

1 Jezre'el is the modern Zer'm. The first unambiguous references to it as 
& town date from Ahab's time (i Kings xviii. 45, 46; xxi. 1, 23, etc.). All 
previous instances of the name Jezreel (I Sam. xxix. I, II ; 2 Sam. iL 9; 
<ii. 2 J iv. 4 j 1 Kings iv. 12} may just as well be referred to ihe plain. See 
farther on the name, p. 384 IT. 

2 As the Byzantine army did against the Mohammedans in 634 a.d. 



358 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



is almost the farthest-seeing, farthest-seen fortress in the 
land, and lies in the main passage between Eastern and 
Western Palestine. You perceive at a glance the meaning 
of its history. Bethshan ought to have been to Samaria 
what Jericho was to Judaea — a cover to the fords of Jordan, 
and a key to the passes westward. But there 

The key of / r 

western is this difference : while Jericho lies well up to 

Palestine. 

the Judaean hills, and has no strength apart 
from them, Bethshan is isolated, and strong and fertile 
enough to stand alone. Alone it has stood — less often 
an outpost of Western Palestine than a point of vantage 
against it. The one event by which this town becomes 
vivid in the Old Testament — the hanging of the bodies of 
Saul and Jonathan upon its walls — is but a symbol of the 
standing menace and insult it proved to Israel, from its 
proud position across the plain. In the earlier history, 
Bethshan sustained an enclave of Canaanites in the midst 
of Israel's territory ; in the later it belonged neither to 
Samaria nor to Galilee, but was a free city, chief of the 
league of Decapolis, with an alien and provoking popula- 
tion. 1 In all its long history, it was Jewish for only thirty 

years, 2 and gladly welcomed Pompey, who 
in foreign made it free again. 3 Many other successful 

invaders, to whom it had willingly opened its 
gates, used it as a base of operations against the land which 
it ought to have defended — for example, Antiochus the 

1 Josephus, ii. Wars, xviii. 3. 

2 Judas Maccabeus had found it friendly in 164, but probably from fear o? 
policy (2 Mace. xii. 29-31) it yielded to John Hyrcanus in 107 (?) (Josephiu 
xiii. Antt. x. 3), and remained under Jewish rule till Pompey's arrival in 
64 B.C. 

3 Jos. xiv. Antt. iii. 4. For its coins under the Empire, see De Saulcy, 
Numis. de la Terre Sainte, 287-290 : Plate xiv. 8-13. It was rebuilt by 
Gabinius. 



The Strong Places of Samaria 



359 



Great 1 and Vespasian. 2 On the first occasion on which 
Bethshan was seriously employed for the defence of 
Western Palestine, the stupidity of her garrison rendered 
her natural strength of no avail. In 634 A.D. T h e Dayof 
the Byzantine army having suffered a great Beisan - 
defeat upon the Yarmuk, 3 fell back across Jordan, fortified 
the bank on which Bethshan stands, and scattered the 
water into marshes. The Moslem found these impassable, 
and sat down in blockade for some months, hoping that 
summer would exhaust the streams. But before summer 
came the Byzantines rashly attacked them on their own 
ground, and suffered a second and decisive defeat. Beisan 
surrendered soon after. The battle was called the battle 
of Fahl, the Arabic name for Pella, which lies on the 
opposite side of Jordan ; but in the history of Islam the 
day lives as the Day of Beisan. It settled the fate of 
Western Palestine. 4 

The only other serious defence of Bethshan was also 
against Moslem attack, and was likewise rendered futile by 
the stupidity of the defenders. The Crusaders 

Capture by 

seem never to have paid to the town that Saiadin, 
attention which its position invited, and the pre- Ll8? ' 
sence across Jordan of the Moslem power ought to have ex- 
torted from them. Their attempts at fortification on this 
vulnerable portion of their frontier they concentrated on 
the castle of Belvoir, high above Bethshan and the channel 
through which the Moslems were certain to sweep. The 

1 198 B.C., Polybius v. 70. who says that its cession to Antiochus was KaO ! 

2 iii. Wars, ix. 7. Vespasian found it a good centre from which to operate, 
both against Galilee and Judaea. 

8 Others hold that this battle was fought at Yarmuth (Josh. x. 23). 
4 Muir, Annals of the Early Caliphate. The Caliphate : its Rise, etc, 
104, 105. 



360 The Historical Geography of the Hocy Land 



result proved their error. Bethshan, unwalled and weakly 
garrisoned, gallantly repulsed the first onset of Saladin, but 
within a year he had returned and destroyed her, with 
Jezreel and another fortress in the neighbourhood called 
Afarbala or Fourbelet. 1 Belvoir held out for eighteen 
months more — as, indeed, any well-manned fortress on 
that height could not help doing — but to what purpose ? 
The Christian banner at Belvoir waved a mere signal, 
remote, ineffectual, above the flood of Mohammedanism 
that speedily covered the whole land. The mistake was 
to have neglected Bethshan. When the Crusaders left 
Bethshan to its fate, they sealed their own. 

These few campaigns will have shown us the strategical 
importance of this remarkable town. But, from its position 
Other history on ^ e high-road between Damascus and Egypt, 
ofBeisan. Bethshan must have seen many other sights 
and persons of great name in history. It can scarcely 
have failed to fall in the way of Thothmes III., 2 but the 
earliest note of it in Egyptian literature occurs in the 
fourteenth century B.C., in the travels of the Mohar, who 
passed through it in his chariot : ( Represent to me Baita- 
sha-al as well as Keriathaal : the fords of the Jordan — how 
does one cross them ? — let me know the passage to enter 
Mageddo.' 3 The name does not seem to occur in the lists 
of Assyrian and Babylonian conquests, but Holofernes 

1 Boha-ed-Din, Life of Saladin, c 24 (ed. Schultens, pp. 53, 54 ; cf. 
William of Tyre, xxii. 26). Afarbala, ^(Jbj&c> i s doubtless the Crusaders' 
Fourbelet, or Forbelet, a castle belonging to the Hospitallers, described as 
not far from Jordan, and south of Beisan. Rey suggests the Kala'at Maleh 
(op. cit. 427). 

* In the list of places conquered by him in Palestine is a Bathshal ; but 
neither Mr. Tomkins nor Professor Sayce identities this with Bethshan. 
II. Rec. of Past, v. 52. Muller {op. cit. p. 193) denies that Bet-sa-el = Beth- 
shan. 8 1. Ru. of Past, ii. 112 ; cf. II. Id. v. 52. 



The Strong Places of Samaria 



361 



rested here, and if both he as well as Pompey and Saladin 
— all three while advancing from Damascus to invade 
Western Palestine — occupied Bethshan, then Tiglath 
Pileser and Sargon, with the same line of march, very 
probably did so too. An older Cleopatra visited Bethshan 
when she made her treaty with Alexander Janneus ; 1 and 
Vespasian caused his legions to winter in its warmth. 2 
Josephus says that in his time Bethshan — then called 
Scythopolis — was the largest city of the Decapolis. 3 Its 
territory was wide and rich. 4 The ruins remaining attest 
a high degree of wealth and culture. Several temples 
have been traced, and there is a large amphitheatre, of 
which so much is still preserved that it requires little 
effort to summon up about you, as you stand in the arena, 
the throng and passion of the city in its Greek days. 
Twelve black basalt rows of benches for the citizens — 
semicircles of nearly two hundred feet in diameter — rise 
eastward just so high as to let the actors upon the arena 
see, over the mass of faces, the line of the Gilead hills on 
the other side of Jordan. 6 No Christian can stand among 
these ruins — the best preserved on the west of the Jordan — 
— without remembering that during the persecutions of 
Decius and Diocletian the amphitheatres of Syria were 
used for the slaughter of the confessors of Christ The 
citadel frowned over all from the north. 

1 Josephus, xiii. Antt. xiii. 2. 

3 iv. Wars, ii. I. Bethshan lies 320 feet below the sea. 

3 iii. Wars, ix. 7. 

4 Polybius v. 70 ; Josephus, Life, 9. It bordered with Gadara. 

5 There are fourteen entrances — for spectators, for actors, for wild beasts— 
and behind these, beneath the seats, the passages and exits are still well 
preserved. Half way up the benches are certain recesses, which are said to 
have contained brass sounding tubes (cf. Irby and Mangles' lYavels, 301, 302 ; 
Robinson, L.R. 318). 



362 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



In Christian times Bethshan was still a noble city, 1 an 
episcopal see, 2 full of monks, and the birthplace of some 
Christian literature. 3 The fertile country around was well 
cultivated in ancient times ; like Jericho, the town was sur- 
rounded by palm groves. The linen of Scythopolis was 
famed all over the world. 4 Moslem war and waste swept all 
this away. The Crusaders, as we have seen, did little to 
revive the town, and, since Saladin finally dismantled it, 
Beisan has been little more than the squalid village which 
now gathers to the south of the unoccupied citadel. There 
are few sites which promise richer spoil beneath their rubbish 
to the first happy explorer with permission to excavate. 
But meantime, under shadow of the high mound, where 
the streams rattle down in the beds they have worn deep 
for thousands of years, and Jordan lies in front, and 
Gilead rises over Jordan, it is possible to dream very vivid 
dreams of a past in which Saul and Judas Maccabeus, 
Pompey, Cleopatra and Vespasian, the Byzantines and 
first Moslem invaders, the Crusaders and Saladin, have all 
played a part. 

With regard to the names of this town, it is well known 
that it had two, and not so well known that, for a period, it 
had also a third. In the Old Testament it is Bethsha'an 
or Bethshan. 5 In the Septuagint, the Second Maccabees, 

1 Euseb. Onom. Bethsan, iirl<n]fios. 

2 For a list of its bishops (the bishop of the time was present at Nice) sec 
Reland, Palcest., under Scythopolis. 3 Basilides and Cyril. 

4 On the palms, Sozomen, H.E. viii. 13 (in 1891 there was one young 
palm thirty feet high) ; on the linen, Totius Orbis Descriptio (anonymous, 
fourth century), in Geogr. Gr<zci min., ed. Mtiller, ii. ; cf. Marquardt, Das 
Privatleben dc? R'6mcr> ii. 466. 

6 Josh. xvii. 11, 16 ; Judges i. 27 ; 1 Kings iv. 12 ; 1 Chron. vii. 

29 — from which verse we see that Bethshaan was a district as well as a town 
But jfi? JT2, 1 Sam. xxxi. 10, 12 ; 2 Sam. xxi. 12. 



The Strong Places of Samaria 



363 



Josephus, and all Greek and Latin literature, it is called 
Scythopolis. 1 But it claimed also, as so many other 
towns did, to have been Nysa, where the infant 

The names 

Bacchus was nursed by the nymphs; and this Bethsbanand 

, Scythopolis. 

name appears both on the town s coins and m 
classical writers. 2 Both Bethshan and Scythopolis were 
extant till the Crusades, 3 since which an Arabic contrac- 
tion of Bethshan, Beisan, has prevailed. Beth-sha'an, in 
the longer of the two forms in which it is given in Hebrew, 
means the House of Security, or Tranquillity, or even, in a 
bad sense, Self-confidence ; any of which would be appro- 
priate to the natural strength and fertility of so self-con- 
tained a site, while the last might well have been bestowed 
by the Hebrews upon a city which so long defied them. 
This, however, is uncertain ; and it is possible that we have 
here simply the name of some deity, as in Beth-Dagon and 
Beth-Peor. The origin of the name Scythopolis, or Scyto- 
polis, is as obscure. The most obvious derivation of course 
is that explicitly made in one or two occurrences of the 
name as 'Ztcvdwv ttoXis, or, City of the Scythians, who are 
said by Herodotus to have invaded Palestine in the reign 
of Psammetichus. 4 Bethshan lies on the line of such an 
invasion. It has also been suggested that Scythopolis is 

1 2kv6u>v tt6\ls, LXX., Judges i. 27; Judith Hi. 10; 2 Mace. xii. 29; 
Polybius v. 70. But ZnvdSiroXis, Josephus xii. Antt. viii. 5 ; xiii. id. vi. I ; 
Pliny, H.N. v. 16 (18), etc. But Scytopolis, Totius Orbis Descriptio in Geogr. 
Gra. min.y ed. Miiller, ii. 

2 Pliny, H.N. v. 16 (18): Scythopolim antea Nysam. So also Stephen 
Byzantinus. For the coins, De Saulcy, PL xiv. 8-13, No. 10, NTSA-IEPA; 
No. 11, NT2-2KT90JEPA. Others have a figure supposed to be the nymph 
suckling Bacchus. The coins date from Nero to Gordian. 

3 Fetellus [circa 1 1 30) gives both. 

4 Herod, i. 103, 105. Pliny, H.N. v. 16 ( 18), says Bacchus himself settled 
the Scythians there 1 It is useless to quote on this point Syncellus, a historian 
of the eighth century. 



364 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Succothopolis 1 — the name Succoth occurring in the neigh- 
bourhood — but Robinson rightly objects to the proba- 
bility of such a hybrid, the like of which indeed does not 
elsewhere occur. It may, however, easily have happened 
that the Greek colonists, hearing some Semitic name in the 
district, should have wrongly supposed it to be the same as 
' Scythian.' This Semitic name may have been Succoth ; 
or it is just possible that it was that word of similar radicals 
to Succoth, which is used in the Old Testament as a 
synonym for the second syllable of Beth-sha'an, if Beth- 
sha'an be really the House of Security?' 

1 By Reland, with whom Gesenius agrees : Thesaurus, sub voce 

2 T)2D, to be still or silent, is related to Dp£>, sh'k't, which is synonymous 
with It is used like of land as well as men. See Judges iii. 11 
and parallel passages. The two words occur together in Jer. xaa, io and 
xlvi. 27 : Bptn. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
THE QUESTION OF SYCHAR 



For this Chapter consult Maps I. and V. 



THE QUESTION OF SYCHAR 



HE identification of Sychar would be a small matter, 



A if it were not that its difficulty, as well as that of 
the whole topography of the Fourth Chapter of John, has 
been made the ground, by some for doubting, by others 
for denying, that the author of the Gospel was personally 
acquainted with the geography of Palestine. A well- 
known writer has said bluntly that there was no such place 
as Sychar, and that the Gospel commits a blunder. 1 And 
recently another writer 2 has stated a number of difficulties 
in the way of accepting the Fourth of John as the account 
of an eye-witness. The time has come for a revision of the 
whole argument. I hope, by pointing out some material 
things that have hitherto been overlooked, to meet the 
difficulties, and if not to place the identification of Sychar 
beyond doubt, at least to adduce sufficient evidence in 
its support to prove the charge of mistake unfounded and 
even absurd. 

The objections made to the topography of Fourth John 
are three : — I. Sychar is not known to us as a city of 
Samaria. 2. Even if Sychar be proved to be either 
Shechem or the present El Askar, no woman seeking water 
would have come from it to Jacob's Well. 3. Exposi- 




1 Supernatural Religion, ii. 427. 

2 Mr. Cross, Critical Review for July 1892. 



368 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



tions, based on the accuracy of the narrative, involve an 
error concerning the direction of the main road through 
Samaria to Galilee, 

I. Supernatural Religion holds it evident that there was 
no such place as Sychar, and that ' a very significant 
mistake ' has been committed by the author of John's 
Gospel — significant, that is, of his ignorance of Pales- 
tine. 

Now, to begin with, let us remember that the writer of 
the Fourth Gospel is admitted to have been a man well 
acquainted with the Old Testament, and that in the Old 
Testament the position of the locality in question, the 
parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph, is more 
than once carefully fixed. In Genesis xxxiii. 19 it is 
described as in* face of, or to the east of, the city of Shechem ; * 
and in Joshua xxiv. 32 as in Shechem. It is inconceivable 
that, with these passages before him, any student of the 
Old Testament would, in mere error, have substituted 
Sychar for Sychem — 2u%ap for £v%eyu,. But the point 
goes further. Had the writer of the Gospel possessed only 
that knowledge of the locality which the Old Testament 
gave him, it is most probable that like Stephen 2 he would 
have used the name 2v%e^. That he introduces another 
name, is surely a sign that he employed another source of 
information. All now agree that Sychar is not a copyist's 
error. 3 If, then, the author himself wrote it, he did so in 
spite of two well-known passages in the Old Testament — 
with which his familiarity is evident — and, therefore, it may 



1 That is, if we adopt the rendering which takes Shalem adverbially, in 
peace. 2 Acts vii. 16. 

3 This was Jerome's way out of the difficulty. 



The Question of Sy char 369 



safely be presumed, because of his acquaintance with Sychar 
as a name in the topography of Samaria. 

In that topography Sychar can have stood — either as a 
second name for Shechem, or as the name of another place 
in the neighbourhood of Shechem. 

For the first of these alternatives a good deal has been 
said, but all in the way of hypothesis. It is within the 
bounds of possibility, that, by their favourite habit of play- 
ing upon names, the Jews may have called Shechem 
Sheqer, false, or Shikor, drunken} But we have absolutely 
no proof of their ever having done so, and it is to be noted 
that the passage in Isaiah xxviii., which is quoted in sup- 
port of the second, and etymologically the only possiblej 
derivation for Sychar, does not describe Shechem at all, 
but the city of Samaria, or Sebaste, six miles away. 
Trench's idea, that John, in his habit of symbolising, was 
himself the author of the nickname, is too far-fetched. 2 

We turn, therefore, to the second possibility, that Sychar 
was the name of a place other than Shechem, but, like 
Shechem, in the neighbourhood of the parcel EvidenC efor 
of ground which facob bought. For this the sIpJSte Sa 
first evidence we get is in the beginning of the town - 
fourth century, when two visitors to the land, Eusebius and 
the Bordeaux Pilgrim (the latter about A.D. 333), both 
mention a Sychar, distinct from Shechem, — Early 
lying, says the former, before Neapolis, the pre- Christian, 
sent Nablus, 3 and the latter adds that it was a Roman mile 

1 ~\pV}, falsehood, was applied to idols (Hab. ii. 18). In Isaiah xxviii. re- 
ference is made to drunkenness, 1135^, as the notorious sin of Samai ia. 

2 Studies in the Gospels, 86. 

8 From which Eusebius also distinguishes Shechem, describing the latter 
as in the suburbs of Neapolis, and holding Joseph's tomb. (Euseb., Ona- 
masticon. ) 



370 The Histcrical Geography of the Holy Land 



from Shechem. Jerome, it is true, asserts that Shechem 
and Sychar are the same ; but he says so without evidence 
except such as all now agree to be unfounded, 1 and his 
negative assertion cannot stand against the other two, who 
say that they saw this Sychar distinct from Shechem — the 
less so, that in translating Eusebius Jerome adopts his 
Sychar without question. The next traces of a separate 
Sychar are found in mediaeval writers. The Abbot Daniel 
(1106-1107) speaks of 'the hamlet of Jacob 

Medieval. 

called Sichar. Jacob's well is there. Near 
this place, at half a verst away, is the town of Samaria 
. . . at present called Neapolis.' Fetellus (1130) says: 
'A mile from Sichem is the town of Sychar, in it is the 
fountain of Jacob, which however is a well.' John of 
Wurzburg (1 160- 1 170) says: 'Sichem is to-day called 
Neapolis. Sichar is east of Sichem, near to the field 
which Jacob gave to his son, wherein is the well of Jacob 
at which place a church is now being built' 2 Again in 
the Samaritan Chronicle, the latest possible date of which 
is the fourteenth century, there occurs the name of a town 
1 apparently near Shechem, which is spelt Ischar,' with 
initial Aleph, which is merely a vulgar pronunciation of 
Sychar. 3 Quaresmius, who wrote about 1630, 4 reports that 
Brocardus (1283) saw 'a certain large city deserted and in 
ruins, believed to have been that ancient Sichem, to the 
left ' or north ' of Jacob's well : ' 1 the natives told me the 

1 Viz., the confusion by some copyist of Sychar with Sychem. 

2 I quote Daniel (who very curiously confounds Neapolis with Sebaste), 
Fetellus, and John of Wurzburg, from the translations of the Palestine 
Pilgrims' Text Society. * Conder, Tent Work, 41. 

4 ' Elucidatio Terrce Sancta? Lib. vii., Peregr. i. Cap. ix. That it is the 
report of Brocardus which Quaresmius gives, and not his own, is clear from 
the next paragraph, where he says : 1 Fateor me non vidisse nisi Neapokoi, 
nec vetus Sychar,' etc. 



The Question of Syckar 371 



place is now called I star by them.' Then the traveller 
Berggren found the name 'Askar or 'Asgar, with initial 
'Ain, given both to a spring 'Ain el 'Askar, which he 
identifies with Jacob's well, and — which is 

. r . Modern. 

much more important for our question — to the 
whole plain below, the Sahil el 'Askar. 1 And, finally, the 
name still attaches to a few ruins and hovels at the foot of 
Mount Ebal, about one mile and three-quarters east north- 
east from Nablus and little over half a mile north from 
Jacob's well. 2 The question is, Can 'Askar be derived 
from Sychar through Ischar? Robinson says no: 'the 
fact that 'Askar begins with the letter 'Ain 

. r -f. . . The names 

excludes all idea of affinity with the name Sychar and 
Sychar.' 3 But Robinson is wrong. Though 
the tendency is the other way, there are cases known in 
which 'Ain has displaced Aleph. Conder says that the 
Samaritans themselves in translating their chronicle into 
Arabic call Ischar 'Askar. 4 And it has hitherto been over- 
looked that among the place-names of Palestine we have 
a strictly analogous case. Ascalon in Hebrew begins with 
an Aleph, but in Arabic this has changed to an initial 
'Ain. The case, therefore, for 'Askar, so far from being 
barred by the rules of the language, comes through this 
last test in all its strength. And its strength, in short, is 
this. That in the fourth century two authori- 
ties independently describe a Sychar distinct 
from Shechem ; that in the twelfth century at least three 
travellers, and in the thirteenth at least one, do the same, 
the latter also quoting a corrupt but still possible variation 

1 Reise, ii. 267. 

2 First described by Canon Williams and since with greatest detail by 
Major Conder, Tent Work, 40-42. 

8 Later Researches, 133. * lent Work, 41. 



372 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



of the name ; that in the fourteenth the Samaritan 
Chronicle mentions another form of the name ; and that 
modern travellers find a third possible variation of it not 
only applied to a village suiting the site described by the 
authorities in the fourth century, but important enough to 
cover all the plain about the village. All this is perhaps 
not conclusive, but at least very strong, proof for the 
identification of 'Askar with Sychar. Certainly there is 
enough of it to expose the dictum of Supernatural 
Religion, that it is 1 evident ' there was no such place as 
Sychar, and that the writer of the Gospel made 'a mis- 
take.' The ' evidence,' so far as it goes, is all the other 
way. 

Of course it may be said that the name Sychar was 
fastened on the district by the Christian pilgrims and 
sacred-site jobbers of the fourth century — who were forced 
to find a place for it since it occurred in the Gospel. But 
to this the answer is obvious. For many centuries after 
the fourth it was taken for granted that Jerome was right, 
and that Shechem and Sychar were the same place. 1 That 
all this time, in spite of ecclesiastical tradition, the name 
Sychar should have continued to exist in the neighbour- 
hood, and solely among the natives, is a strong proof of 
its originality — of its having been from the first a native 
and not an artificial name. 

1 By, among others, Arculf, 700; Saewulf, apparently, 1 102 ; Theoderich, 
1172; Sir J. Maundeville, 1322; Tuch^m of Nurnberg, 1480. A curious 
opinion is offered by the Graf zu Solms (1483) that 'on the right hand of 
this well ' of Jacob, that is, to the south of it, ' ist ein alter grosser Fleck 
aber ode, dass ich meyne die alte Statt Sichem seyn gewesen, dann gross alt 
Gebaw da ist. Und liget von dem abgenanten Brunnen Jacob zwen stein- 
wiirff vveit, gar an einer lustigen Stett, allein dass es Wasser mangelt.' But 
from Neapolis tke well was two bow-shots off, so that 1 some say Napolis u 
Thebes.' 



The Question of Sychar 373 



2. This still leaves us with the second difficulty. 
Granted that Sychar is either Shechem, the present 
Nablus, or 'Askar, is it likely that any woman a j ac ob's 
from them, seeking water, should have come Wel1, 
past streams in their immediate neighbourhood to the 
more distant, the deep and scanty well of Jacob ? There 
is a copious fountain in 'Askar : and a stream, capable of 
turning a mill, flows down the valley only 'a few rods' 1 from 
Jacob's well. This the woman, if coming from 'Askar, must 
have crossed, while, if coming from Shechem, she must have 
passed near it and many other sources of water. Jacob's well 
itself is over one hundred feet deep, 2 and is often dry. 

Now in answer to this, it may be justly said that the 
real difficulty is not why the woman should have come to 
the well, but why the well should be there at all. That 
any one should have dug so deep a well in the immediate 
neighbourhood of so many streams is most perplexing, 
unless indeed in those far away summers the surface 
streams ran dry, and the well was dug so deep that it 
might catch their fainting waters below the surface. 3 Be 
that as it may, the well is there — a fact testifying past all 
doubt the possibility of the fact of the woman's use of it 
Specially dug for man's use by man, how impressively 
among the natural streams around does it explain the 
intensity of the woman's words : Our father Jacob gave us 
the well. Of course — it was given y not found. The signs of 
labour and expense stand out upon it all the more patheti- 

1 Robinson. 

3 'Thirty-five yards,' Maundrell ; * one hundred and five feet,' Holmes. 

8 Robinson indeed suggests that an earthquake may have changed the 
whole disposition of the waters in the Vale of Shechem since the time of the 
narrative. Possible, for on that high pass very little could tilt the watershed 
to the west, but in an arpument like this we do not dare to count on it. 



374 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



cally for the freedom of the waters that come rattling down 
the vale ; and must, one feels, have had their share in 
increasing the fondness of that tradition which, possibly, 
was the attraction that drew Jacob's fanatic children to its 
scantier supplies. 1 

It is impossible to say whether the well is now dry, for 
many feet of it are choked with stones. Robinson says 
there is a spring in it, 2 Conder that it fills by infiltration. 
If either of these be correct, then we can understand the 
double titles given to it in the narrative, both of which our 
version renders by well. It is Jacob's fountain, iri]<yr] (v. 5) ; 
but the pit, to (frpeap, is deep (v. 1 1) ; and Jacob gave us the 
pit (v. 12). It is by little touches like these, and by the 
agreement of the rest of the topography — Mount Gerizim, 
and the road from Judaea to Galilee — (as well as by the 
unbroken traditions of three religions), that we feel sure 
that this is the Jacob's well intended by the writer, and 
that he had seen the place. 

Thus, then, the present topography, so far from contra- 
dicting, justifies the narrative. The author knew the place 
about which he was writing. 

3. By Jacob's well the great north road through 
Samaria forks, and the well lies in the fork. One 
3. The roads Drancn turns westward up the vale past 
bySychar. Shechem, and so on round the west of Ebal 
to Sebaste, and Jenin, The other holds north across 
the mouth of the vale and past 'Askar. Now ex- 
ception has been taken 3 to Lightfoot's and Stanley's 
speaking of this second road as the main road to 

1 Porter mentions a favourite well outside Damascus which drew the 
inhabitants a mile away from their own abundant waters. 
* iMt. Res. 108. * By Mr. Cross, Critical Review, July 1892.- 



The Question of Sy char 375 



Galilee. He says the latter has always gone by Shechem 
and Sebaste, and that the road which holds across the 
mouth of the vale turns north-east into the Jordan Valley 
at Bethshan, and leads not to Upper Galilee, where our 
Lord was going, but to Tiberias and the Lake. He is 
correct when he says the Shechem road is the ordinary 
road, but wrong in saying there is not a road across the 
mouth of the vale and so on to Jenin. As he admits, 
Robinson was told of such a road ; and I have to report 
that in 1891, being anxious to avoid the road by Sebaste, 
which I had already traversed, I was informed by my 
muleteers that I could reach Jenin by following the 
Bethshan road, and, when it struck east, keeping due 
north. Moreover, this is a much more natural direction 
for the trunk road to the north to follow than round by 
Shechem and Sebaste. For if any one will take the 
Survey Map, he will see this direction to be on the line 
of that series of plains which come right down from 
Esdraelon to opposite the Vale of Shechem ; 1 while the 
road round by Sebaste has to climb a great barrier of 
hills. Besides, such a road would be preferred by our 
Lord, avoiding as it did both Shechem and Sebaste, two 
large towns, one Greek, the other Samaritan, close to which, 
if He turned up the valley, He must needs have passed. 

So that Lightfoot and Stanley are probably correct ; 
but the point is a small one, and does not affect the nar- 
rative in John. Upon the data given there, our Lord and 
His disciples, after their rest at Jacob's well, may have 
intended to take any one of the three roads ; and that 
whether the city to which the disciples went to buy bread 
was Shechem or was 'Askar. 

1 See p. 327 * 



CHAPTER XIX 
ESDRAELON 



For this Chapter consult Maps Y., III. and V? 



ESDRAELON 



IN our survey of Samaria we have already found our- 
selves drawn out upon the great Plain of Esdraelon. 
The plain has come up to meet us among the Es draeion 
Samarian hills. Carmel and Gilboa encompass and Samaria - 
it ; half a dozen Samarian strongholds face each other 
across its southern bays. Nature has manifestly set 
Esdraelon in the arms of Samaria. Accordingly, in the 
Old Testament times they shared, for the most part, the 
same history ; in tribal days, though Esdraelon was 
assigned to Zebulun and Issachar, Manasseh, the keeper 
of the hills to the south, claimed towns upon it ; 1 in the 
days of the kingdom, the chariots of the Samarian kings, 2 
the footsteps of the Samarian prophets, traversed Esdraelon 
from Carmel to Jordan. 3 But after the Exile the Samari- 
tan 2 Schism- -confounder of so many natural arrangements 
— divorced the plain from the hills which embrace it, and 
Esdraelon was counted not to the province of Samaria, 
but to that of Galilee, the southern frontier of which was 
coincident with its own southern edge. 4 More interesting, 
however, than the connection of either north or south with 
Esdraelon, is the separation which this great plain effects 
between them, the break it causes in the central range of 

1 Josh. xvii. n ff. ; xix. 10-23. 3 Sec p. 330. 

1 1 Kings xviii. 44-46 ; 2 Kings iv. 9. 4 Josephus, ii. B.J. iii. 4. 



380 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Palestine, the clear passage it affords from the coast to the 
Jordan. This has given Esdraelon a history of its own. 

Esdraelon is usually regarded as one plain under one 
name from sea to Jordan. In reality, however, it is not 
m , one, but several plains, more or less divided by 

The three ' ^ ' J 

sections of the remains of ridges, which once upon a time 

the plain. & r 

sustained across it the continuity of ' the back- 
bone of Palestine.' Thus, nine miles from the sea, near 
Tell el Kasis, 1 the traditional site of the slaughter of the 
priests of Baal, a promontory of the Galilean hills shoots 
south to within a hundred yards of Carmel, leaving only 
that space for the Kishon to break through. Eight or 
nine miles farther east, at Lejjun, probably the ancient 
Megiddo, low ridges run out from both north and south, as 
if they had once met, and again leave Kishon but a narrow 
pass. And once more, between Jezreel and a spot west of 
Shunem, about twenty-four miles from the coast, there is 
a sudden fall of level eastwards, which visibly separates 
Esdraelon proper from the narrower valley sloping towards 
Jordan and is perhaps evidence of a former connection 
between Gilboa and Moreh. It should be added, that to 
north and south of the plain the geological formation is 
the same. 

If we overlook the rising ground at Lejjun, which is 
not very prominent, we thus get, upon this great opening 
Plain of Acre, across Palestine, three divisions — to the west 
iSuo n '' the Maritime Plain of Acre, bounded by the 
Jordan. j QW j^i^ near *p e u e \ Kasis ; in the centre a 

large inland plain ; and upon the east, running down from 
it from Jordan, the long valley between Gilboa and Moreh. 
Of these the Central Plain lies as much athwart, as on a 

1 i.e. the Mound of the Priest. 



Esdraelon 



381 



line with, the other two, spreading to north and south with 
a breadth equal to its length. In shape the Central Plain 
is a triangle. The southern side or base is twenty miles 
from Tell el Kasis by the foot of Carmel and the lower 
Samarian hills south to Jenin. The other two sides are 
equal, fifteen miles each ; the northern being the base of 
the Nazareth hills from Tell el Kasis to the angle between 
them and Tabor, the eastern a line from Tabor to Jenin. 
This side is not so bounded by hills as the other two, but 
has three breaks across it eastward — one between Tabor 
and Moreh, a mere bay of the plain, with a narrow wady 
down to the Jordan ; one between Moreh and Gilboa, the 
long valley aforesaid running to the Jordan at Bethshan ; 
and one between Gilboa and the hills about Jenin, also a 
bay of the plain, but without issue to Jordan. The general 
level of the Central Plain is 200 feet above the sea-line> 
but from this the valley Jordanwards sinks gently in 
twelve miles to 400 feet below the sea, at Bethshan, where 
it drops over a high bank on to the Jordan Plain. 

This disposition of the land, with all that it has meant 
in history, is best seen from Jezreel. 

As you stand upon that last headland of Gilboa, 200 feet 
above the plain, your eye sweeps from the foot of Tabor 
to Jenin, from Tell el Kasis to Bethshan. The View from 
great triangle is spread before you. Along the J ezreel - 
north of it the steep brown wall of the Galilean hills, 
about 1000 feet high, runs almost due west, till it breaks 
out and down to the feet of Carmel, in forest slopes just 
high enough to hide the Plain of Acre and the sea. But 
over and past these slopes Carmel's steady ridge, deepening 
in blue the while, carries the eye out to its dark promontory 
above the Mediterranean. From this end of Carmel the 



382 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



lower Samarian hills, 1 green with bush and dotted by 
white villages, run south-east to the main Samarian range, 
and on their edge, due south, seven miles across the bay, 
Jenin stands out with its minarets and palms, and the 
glen breaking up behind it to Dothan. The corresponding 
bay on the north between Moreh and Tabor, and Tabor 
itself, are hidden. But all the rest of the plain is before 
you — a great expanse of loam, red and black, 2 which in 
a more peaceful land would be one sea of waving wheat 
with island villages ; but here is what its modern name 
implies, 3 a free, wild prairie, upon which but one or two 
hamlets have ventured forth from the cover of the hills 
and a timid and tardy cultivation is only now seeking to 
overtake the waste of coarse grass and the thistly herbs 
that camels love. There is no water visible. The Kishon 
itself flows in a muddy trench, unseen five yards away. 
But here and there a clump of trees shows where a deep 
well is worked to keep a little orchard green through 
summer ; dark patches of reeds betray the beds of winter 
swamps ; and the roads have no limit to their breadth, 
but sprawl, as if at most seasons one caravan could not 
follow for mud on the path of another. But these details 
sink in a great sense of space, and of a level made 
almost absolute by the rise of hills on every side of it. It 
is a vast inland basin, and from it there breaks just at 
your feet, between Jezreel and Shunem, the valley Jordan- 
wards, — breaks as visibly as river from lake, with a slope, 

1 Which we have already identified as the Shephelah of Israel. See p. 338 

2 ' Loose soil, mostly volcanic, which is very tiring to horses, and there- 
fore unfitted for cavalry evolutions, and in winter boggy.' — P.E.F. Mem. 
ii. 36. 

3 Merj ibn Amir. 1 The meadow of the son of Amir,' but meadow of a 
wild, rough kind. 



Esdraelon 



383 



and almost the look of a current upon it Away down 
this, between Gilboa and Moreh, Bethshan shines like a 
white island in the mouth of an estuary, and, across the 
unseen depth of Jordan, rises the steep flat range of Gilead 
—a counterpart at this end of the view to the long ridge 
of Carmel at the other. 1 

From Jezreel you can appreciate everything in the 
literature and in the history of Esdraelon. 



I. To begin with, you can enjoy that happiest sketch of 
a landscape and its history that was ever j The Blessing 
drawn in half a dozen lines, Issachar 1 — to ofissachar. 
which the most of Esdraelon fell — 

Issach&r is a large-limbed ass, 
Stretching himself between the sheepfolds : 
For he saw a resting-place that it was good, 
And the land that it was pleasant? 

Such exactly is Esdraelon — a land relaxed and sprawling 
up among the hills to north, south and east, as you will 
see a loosened ass roll and stretch his limbs any day in the 
sunshine in a Syrian village yard. To the highlander 
looking down upon it, Esdraelon is room to stretch in and 
lie happy. Yet the figure of the ass goes further — the 
room must be paid for — 

So he bowed his shoulder to bear 

And became a servant under task- work. 

The inheritors of this plain never enjoyed the highland 
independence of Manasseh or Naphtali. Open to east 



1 This ' antiphon ' of Gilead and Carmel in the view from Jezreel, further 
illustrates the remark madr on p. 338, 

2 Gen xlix 14.. 



384 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



and west, pleasantest stage on the highway from the 
Nile to the Euphrates, Esdraelon was at distant intervals 
the war-path or battle-field of great empires, but more 
regularly the prey and pasture of the Arabs, who with 
each spring came upon it over Jordan. Even when there 
has been no invasion to fear, Esdraelon has still suffered : 
when she has not been the camp of the foreigner she has 
served as the estate of her neighbours. Ten years ago 
the peasants got rid of the Arabs of the desert, only to be 
bought up by Greek capitalists from Beyrout. 

II. Another thing you see most clearly from Jezreel 
is the reason of the names given to the Great Plain and 
11. The two * ts offshoots. These names are two : Vale, or 
names. Deepening, and Plain or Opening ; the former 
is connected with the name of Jezreel, the latter with that 
of Megiddo. 

(1) The Vale of Jezreel. The word for Vale, 'Emeq, 
literally deepening, is a highlander's word for a valley as 
(1) The Vale ^ e l°°ks down into it, and is never applied to 
of jezreel. an y extensive plain away from hills, but always 
to wide avenues running up into a mountainous country 
like the Vale of Elah, the Vale of Hebron, and the Vale of 
Ajalon. 1 We should, therefore, expect the word, when 
associated with Jezreel, to apply not to the great Central 
Plain west ol Jezreel, but to the broad deep vale east 
of Jezreel, which descends to Jordan, between Moreh and 
Gilboa. And in fact it is so applied in the story of 
Gideon's campaign. There it is said that the Midianites 
when they passed over Jordan pitched in the Vale of 
Jezreel? to the north of the well of Harod from the hill of 

1 See Appendix, 1. 3 Judges vi. 33. 



Esdraelon 



335 



Moreh into the vale ; x and again that the camp of Midian 
was in the valley beneath Gideon, who presumably occu- 
pied, like Saul, the heights of Gilboa above the wells. 
The same identification suits the other passages where 
the Vale of Jezreel is mentioned, 2 and we conclude that 
in the Old Testament it means only the valley down 
which Jezreel looks to Jordan, and not the plain across 
which Jezreel looks to Carmel. 8 But in later times 
it is this latter which is called after Jezreel — not in- 
deed now the Vale of Jezreel, but the Great Plain 
of Esdrelom, or Esdrelon* This name has survived 
to the present day, not in the local dialect, but in 
various Greek and Latin forms, as Stradela, 5 or Istradela, 6 
Esdraelon. 

(2) The Plain of Megiddo. While 'Emeq means deepen- 
ing, the word used here, Biq'ah, means opening. From its 
origin — a verb to split — one would naturally ^ The piain 
take it to be a valley more narrow than 'Emeq, of Me £ lddo - 
a cleft or gorge. But it is applied to broad vales like 
that of Jordan under Hermon or at Jericho, though never 
to table-lands nor to maritime plains like Sharon. The 
Arabic equivalent is to-day the name of the vale between 
the Lebanon s, as well as of some other level tracts in 
Syria surrounded by hills. A surrounding of hills seems 
necessary to the name Biq'ah, as if it were to be trans- 
lated, land laid open, or lying open, in the midst of hills. 
And this is just what the great Central Plain of Esdraelon 

1 Judges vii. 1 ; cf. 12. 2 Joshua xvii. 16; Hosea i. 5. 

1 So correctly the P.E.F. map, ed. 1890. 

4 Book of Judith i. 8, t6 iu.ey<X irediov 'EcrS/wjXw/* ; cf. iii. 9, iv. 6, 
'Eaop-rjXuv, but again with /* in vii. 3. 6 The Jerusalem Itinerary. 

6 Bordeaux Pilgrim, 333 a.d. ; another MS., Stradela, ed. P.P.T., 17. 
In Fetellus (1130) Jezrahel. 

2 B 



386 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



is, — girt by hills on all sides, laid open or gaping in the 
midst of the main range of Palestine. 1 

The name of Megiddo has not survived, like that of 
Jezreel, and there is controversy as to what site it repre- 
Where was sents - On the base of the Central Plain just 
Megiddo ? opposite Jezreel is a place called Lejjun — the 
Roman Legio, Legion. As Jezreel commands the mouth 
T)f the valley towards the Jordan, so Legio guards the 
mouth of the chief pass towards Sharon. It was, there- 
fore, as important a site as Jezreel, and as likely to give its 
name to the plain. In Roman times it did so. Jerome 
calls the Great Plain both the Plains of Megiddo and the 
Campus Legionis. 2 Moreover, the only town definitely 
named in the immediate neighbourhood of Megiddo — 
Taanach upon the waters of Megiddo* — is undoubtedly 
the present Tannuk, four miles from Lejjun ; 4 and there 
even seems a trace of the name in the name the Arabs 
give to Kishon, the Muqutta'. Omitting this last item, 
we have enough of evidence to support Robinson's identi- 
fication of Lejjun with Megiddo, even against a plausible 
rival which Major Conder has favoured in Mujedda', a 
site with considerable ruins at the foot of Gilboa, above 
the Jordan and near Beisan. 6 I have put in a note what 

1 See Appendix I. 

8 Plains of Megiddo, in his Pilgrimage of 'St. Paula, iv. ; Campus Legionis, 
in the Onomasticon, where Eusebius, whom he translates, has t<£ neyaky 
Trediq) tt}$ Aeyewvos, etc., artt. 'Ap^Xa, Bcu0a/cd0, Ta(3ad<Jji>, etc 

8 Judges v. 19. 

* How names change ! Legio is the Crusading Legio, Ligio and Lyon. 
In a Bull of Alexander IV. (of 30th Jan. 1255), containing an inventory of 
the possessions of the Abbey of St. Mary in the Vale of Jehoshaphat, we 
find 1 the Church of Ligio with parish and tithes,' as well as 'the Manor of 
Thanis,' i.e. Taanuk. 

8 Mujedda', both town and wadv, are mentioned by Burckhardt, Travel* 
in Syria^ etc., July 2, 1813. 



Esdraelon 



387 



seem to me sufficient answers to Major Conder's argu- 
ment against Lejjun, and need here only emphasise once 
more what is so evident as you stand at Jezreel — the equal 
right with Jezreel which Lejjun, commanding the other 
great gate to the plain, has to bestow its name upon the 
latter, as well as the fitness of calling that great triangle, 
opened among the hills, the Biq'ah, or Open-Ground of 
Megiddo. 1 

1 Major Conder's argument against Lejjun, and in favour of Mujedda', 
as the site of Megiddo, is threefold. He says (1) that Megiddo is as often 
mentioned — save once — with Bethshan as with Taanach ; (2) that Muqutta' 
is not a possible transformation of Megiddo ; and (3) that the site on the 
Jordan Valley suits the narrative of the flight of Ahaziah (2 Kings ix.) 
better than the site by Lejjun does. On each of these points I think he 
fails to make out his case. Thus : (i) The phrase, Taanach by the waters 
of Megiddo, seems to me to put the Mujedda' site out of the question; 
Joshua xii. 21 sets Taanach and Megiddo next to Carmel and the coast (Dor, 
i.e. the present Tanturah) ; no possible definition of locality can be taken 
from the order of towns in Josh. xvii. 11, where the text is manifestly cor- 
rupt, nor from that in Judges i. 27, which, beginning with Bethshan, leaps 
over Gilboa to Taanach, then over Carmel to Dor, in the west, then back 
to Ibleam (possibly the present Bir Bela'meh, near Jenin ; cf. Black's 
Joshua, ' Sm. Camb. Bible for Schools,' xvii. 11) and Megiddo. In I Kings 
iv. 12 there is another confusion : Taanach, Megiddo, Bethshan, Abel- 
meholah, then back to Jokneam on Carmel. In 1 Chron. vii. 29 the order is 
Bethshan, Taanach, Megiddo, Dor, the correct order from east to west, if 
Lejjun be Megiddo. (2) Major Conder objects to the identification of 
Muqutta' with Megiddo, that the palatal / in the Arab name is never the 
equivalent of the Hebrew d. Yet, in some cases, they have been inter- 
changed (Wright's Comparative Grammar, p. 53). The deep q and the 
hard g are of course equivalents. There remains the 'ain at the end of 
Muqutta' which is not in Megiddo, but this "*ain is in Mujedda' as well, as 
to which Conder says that it is an equivalent of the Hebrew n in the form 
Megiddon. But it is not necessary to prove an equivalence between the 
modem and ancient words. Muqutta' means ford, and it is not impossible 
that Arabs should, in the case of a river, substitute it for a name so very 
closely resembling it in sound, of which they did not know the meaning. 
This has happened frequently in Palestine itself and elsewhere. (3) With 
all deference to Major Conder, I think that Megiddo at Lejjun suits the 
story of the flight of Ahaziah far better than Mujedda' does. Let it be 
remembered that Jehu was driving up the Valley of Jezreel from Bethshan, 



388 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



III. Now when we have made out Lejjun or Megiddo 
as a place of equal importance with Jezreel — each of them 
Hi. Esdraeion g* vm g * ts name to the plain, as well as holding 
and Sharon. a c hj e f gateway into it — we are ready to mark 
the next fact about Esdraeion which the view from Jezreel 
towards Megiddo renders clear. This is, that the passage 
which Esdraeion afforded across Palestine was not that 
which seems at first the more natural, viz., from the Plain 
of Acre by the glen through which Kishon breaks at Tell 
el Kasis, but that which comes over from the Plain of 
Sharon by the pass at Megiddo. Look from Jezreel, and 
at once you see this to be possible. The Plain of Acre is 
not more visible to you than the Plain of Sharon ; the 
Galilean hills intervene, and rise almost as high and broad 
between Esdraeion and Acre as the Samarian hills do 

and that Ahaziah's flight from him was, therefore, not so likely to be towards 
Bethshan as in an opposite direction. We do not know where the ascent 
of Gur was ; Ibleam may be beside Jenin. Overtaken and wounded here, 
on a path southward which Jehu afterwards pursued to Samaria, it was 
natural for Ahaziah's company to seek the only other route for chariots 
from the plain southwards — that by the pass leading over from Lejjun to 
Sharon. These objections against Robinson's argument being repelled, I 
think the case for Lejjun as Megiddo rests satisfactorily on these points : 
(i) that it is close to Taanach ; (2) that the waters of Megiddo are 
practically Kishon (Judges v. 19) ; (3) that Lejjun is as likely to give 
its name to the plain as Jezreel is, and did so give it in the time of 
Jerome. 

Since the foregoing was published in the Expositor^ I have read Mr. 
Treiawney Saunders' reasons against Conder's theory {P.E.F.Q., 1880, 
223-224), and find that he also suggests the possibility of the derivation of 
Muqutta' from Megiddo. With Saunders agrees Socin (Z.D.P.V. iv., 
150, 151). Under the former's note the Rev. Dr. Henderson cites one 
strong argument for Mujedda', that in the Travels of the Mohar Megiddo is 
presumably close to Jordan. But this cannot stand against the mass of evi- 
dence which puts it near Taanach, and according to W. Max Muller, Asien 
u. Europa, p. 195 f., the writer has confused Kishon with Jordan. Miillei 
also points out how often Megiddo is spelt with a ' t ' on the Egyptian 
monuments. See Additional Note at end of volume. 



jZsdraelon 389 

between Esdraelon and Caesarea. Look at the way Carmel 
lies. You easily perceive that an army coming north by 
Sharon, whether it was making for the south of the Lake 
of Galilee at Bethshan, or for the north of the lake by the 
plateau above Tiberias, would not seek to compass the 
prolonged ridge of Carmel by the sea, and so enter 
Esdraelon from the Plain of Acre, for that would be a 
very roundabout road ; but it would cut across the Sama- 
rian hills to the south of Carmel by the easy pass which 
issues at Megiddo. And so, in fact, armies from the south 
always came : the Philistines, when they shirked attacking 
Israel on the steep flanks of Benjamin and Ephraim, and 
camped by the most open gateway of the hill-country 
opposite Esdraelon ; 1 Pharaoh Necho, when Josiah met 
him at Megiddo, and was beaten when he met him, and was 
slain, and the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Plain oj 
Megiddo became a proverb in Israel ; 2 the Romans, who 
set a great garrison in Megiddo, and called it Legion ; 
Napoleon, in 1799, who, although he was making for Acre, 
did not take the sea-path round Carmel, but also crossed 
into Esdraelon by Subbarin and Tell Keimun. If other 
proof be needed that in ancient times Esdraelon's connec- 
tion with the coast was south, and not north, of Carmel, 
we find it in that singular list of towns so frequently given 
in the Old Testament — Bethshan, Taanach, Megiddo, 
Dor. These formed a strategical line of fortresses on the 
one great avenue across country, 3 yet that line did not 
run north, but south of Carmel. Megiddo and Taanach, 

1 ab*av a/Sdcreis rf;s dpeivrjs . . . 7} etsoSos ets tt}v 'lovdaiav. Judith iv. 6. See 
above, p. 356. 

2 2 Chron. xxxv. 22; Zech. xii. 1 1. Hadadrimmon (LXX. pou>p, a pome 
granate plantation) is perhaps Rummaneh, close beside Lejjun. 

1 Josh. xvii. 11 ; Judges i. 27 ; I Kings iv. 12 ; 1 Chron. vii. 29. 



390 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



backed by Bethshan, were not in line with Acre or Haifa, 
but with Dor, the present Tanturah, a few miles to the 
north of Cassarea. Nothing could be clearer than this. 
The break across Palestine which Esdraelon affords is a 
break into Sharon, and not into the Plain of Acre. And, 
indeed, the roads from Acre to the interior of the country, 
whether making for Jordan above or below the lake, 
travelled then, as they do now, through the long parallel 
valleys of Lower Galilee. If any caravans entered Esdrae- 
lon from Acre, it was in order to seek a gateway to Samaria 
at Jenin, or to cross to Sharon by the pass of Megiddo. 1 
Few armies going north or south kept to the beach below 
Carmel ; if those of the Ptolemies and Antiochi did so, it 
was because the Jews held the hills up to Carmel ; if 
Richard, in the Third Crusade, did so, 2 it was because 
those hills were all in the possession of the Saracen. 

IV. We have followed the natural avenues to Esdraelon 
from the rest of the land. Let us now review the points 
at which they enter the Great Plain ; for it is 

IV. The Gate- r , 

ways of from these, of course, that its various cam- 
paigns were directed. The entrances are five 
in number, and all visible from Jezreel. Three are at the 
corners of the triangle — the pass of the Kishon at Tell el 
Kasis, the glen between Tabor and the Nazareth hills, and 
the valley southward behind Jenin. The first of these is 

1 We have an incidental proof that travellers preferred this road ; in 382, 
St. Paula, travelling from Ptolemais to Caesarea, did not keep to the sea, but 
crossed the plains of Megiddo by the deathplace of Josiah. Jerome's Life oj 
St. Paula, iv. 

2 Vinsauf, Itiner. Ricard. iv. 12-14. Cestius also took the sea road, 
Josephus, ii. Wars, xviii. So did Napoleon in his retreat, Guerre de 
? Orient ; Campagnes d 1 Egypte et de Syrie, ii. 104. The new railway from 
the coast to Jordan keeps, of course, to the north of Carmel. 



Esdraelon 



39 1 



the way of advance from the Plain of Acre ; 1 Harosheth 
of the Gentiles, from which Sisera advanced, lies upon it. 
The second is the road down from the plateau above 
Tiberias, and Northern Galilee generally ; it is commanded 
by Tabor, on which there was always a fortress. The third is 
the passage towards that series of meadows which lead up 
from Esdraelon into the heart of Samaria — the Anabaseis 
of the Hill-country. 2 The other two gateways to the Great 
Plain were, of course, Megiddo and Jezreel. Megiddo 
guarded the natural approach of Philistines, Egyptians, 
and other enemies from the south ; Jezreel that of Arabs 5 
Midianites, Syrians of Damascus, and other enemies from 
the east. 

V. With our eyes on these five entrances, and remem- 
bering that they are not merely glens into neighbouring 
provinces, but passes to the sea and to the 
desert — gates on the great road between the toryof 
empires of Euphrates and Nile, between the 
continents of Asia and Africa — we are ready for the arrival 
of those armies of all nations whose almost ceaseless con- 
tests have rendered this plain the classic battle-ground of 
Scripture. Was ever arena so simple, so regulated for the 
spectacle of war? Esdraelon is a vast theatre, with its 
clearly-defined stage, with its proper exits and entrances. 
We will still watch it from Jezreel. 

(i) Very significantly, the first of the historical battles 
of Esdraelon was one in which Israel overcame not only a 
foreign tyrant, but the use which that tyrant made of the 

1 Though from Acre itself a more usual road lay farther north across th« 
slopes of the Galilean hills. 

2 See above, pp. 356, 389. 



392 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



plain for the purpose of preventing Israel's unity. On the 
eve of Deborah's appearance in Israel, Esdraelon, which 
(i) Barak and nac * been assigned to Issachar, was still in 
Sisera. possession of the Canaanites, and scoured by 

their chariots. 1 This meant not only that the entrances to 
the hill-country of Israel were in Canaanite hands, but 
that the northern tribes, Zebulun and Naphtali, were wholly 
cut off from the southern, Manasseh, Ephraim, Benjamin, 
and the still ineffective Judah. 2 The Canaanite camp was 
at Harosheth, probably the present Harithiyeh, on the 
Kishon pass, where it must have paralysed the maritime 
tribes of Asher and Dan. 3 The evil, therefore, was far 
greater than the oppression of Issachar ; it affected the 
national existence of Israel, and its removal was the 
concern of all her tribes. This is emphasised by both of 
the two accounts of the revolt. The Song of Deborah, 
without doubt a contemporary document, mentions every 
tribe for praise or blame, according as it took part or did 
not, except the tribe of Judah.* The prose account, which 
precedes the song, 5 names only the northern tribes, but 
describes the leaders as belonging to both ends of Israel — 
Deborah to Mount Ephraim, near Bethel, and Barak to 
Kedesh-Naphtali. 6 With regard to the battle itself, the 

1 Both Oort {Atlas, iv.) and Guthe (in Droysen's Hist. Hand Atlas) mark 
a band of Israelite territory across Esdraelon, so as to include Jezreel. But 
this is very improbable, for it shuts up the Canaanites, who were all-powerful 
on the plain, in a little enclosure about Bethshan— a blockade which could 
not have been maintained by the oppressed and weakened Israel. Cf. Budde, 
Ri. u. Sa. 46. 

3 Judah is not mentioned in Deborah's Song, nor, of course, Levi. 

3 See p. 174. They abode by their ships. 

4 Machir stands for Manasseh, Gilead for Gad. 5 Judges iv. 

6 When we have grasped the national significance of the crisis, we do not 
feel the force of the objections brought against the distance which chapter iv. 
puts between Deborah's and Barak's homes (see Budde, Ri. u. Sa. p. 105 



Esdraeton 



393 



two accounts agree as to the chief actors, the help given 
to Israel by Jehovah, 1 the battle-field upon Kishon, the 
total defeat of the Canaanites, and the murder of Sisera 
by Jael. In addition, the prose narrative introduces Jabin, 
king of Canaan, at Hazor, 2 names Harosheth as Sisera's 
camp, and Tabor as the tryst of the Israelites, and gives a 
different account of the way in which Jael struck her fell 
blow. 3 With the first and the last of these we have 
nothing to do here. The addition of Harosheth and 
Tabor is in harmony with the geographical data, and it 
was natural to introduce them in a prose narrative, where 
more attention would be paid than in the song to tactical 
details. Accepting, then, all the geographical contributions 
of chapter iv. in supplement to the rapid sketch of the 

Cooke, The Song and Hist, oj Deborah, p. n ; Wellhausen, Pro/eg., Eng. ed., 
241). There was no reason for inventing it, and it is natural in the circum- 
stances. Chapter v. implies that all the tribes which lay on the Central 
Range were roused, and certainly does not indicate, as some have alleged 
ver. 15 indicates, that both Deborah and Barak belonged to Issachar. On 
chapter iv. see A. B. Davidson, Expositor, January 1889. 

1 Wellhausen's contrast between the two chapters on this point is manifestly 
overdrawn. Proleg., Eng. ed., 241 f. 

2 The song speaks of kings of Canaan (v. 19). Some have attributed the 
insertion of Jabin's name to an editor (Bertheau, Richter, 2nd ed. ; Dillmann 
on Josh. xi. 1); but others, following Kuenen (Wellhausen, Budde, Cooke, 
Driver), hold that the chapter is woven from two distinct narratives — one of 
Sisera's defeat by Deborah and Barak on Kishon, as in chapter v. ; the other 
of a battle by Zebulun and Naphtali against Jabin on the northern Jordan. 
This, however, is far from proved or probable, for (1) there is no reason why 
two such stories should have got mixed (as Budde owns, p. 62). The appear- 
ance of a Barak in both has been suggested as a reason, but a double Barak 
would be as great a difficulty as a double Jabin (here and in Josh. xi.). (2) 
The attempt to distinguish the two narratives (Bruston, ' Les deux Jehovistes, ' 
in the Rev. de Thiol, el Phil., 1886) has failed. (3) Chapter iv. as it stands 
is a consistent account. On the alleged discrepancy between vv. 16 and 22, 
see below, p. 396, n. I. Even if the Jabin portion were detachable, this 
would not affect the other divergences of chapter iv. from chapter v., especiallv 
the mention of Harithiyeh and Tabor. 

• On this see Cooke, op. cit. ; Robertson Smith, 0. T.J, C. 



394 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



fighting in chapter v., we may take the following as a 
full account of the battle. 

The hands of the prophetess of Mount Ephraim were 
required to loosen the spring of the revolt, but the spring 
The Battle of itself was found among the northern tribes : 
the Kishon. to them belonged the military leader, Barak, 
and this determined the place of muster not in Gilboa 
where Gideon and Saul, southern chiefs, afterwards 
assembled their forces, but in the strong corner at Tabor, 
where the main road enters the plain from Northern 
Galilee. To this, in the loose disposition of Oriental war- 
fare — compare Gideon's and Saul's traverse of the plain by 
night in presence of the enemy 1 — it would be easy for the 
southern tribesmen to cross, unless indeed we are to 
imagine, and it is not unlikely, that the Canaanites were 
attacked by Israel from both sides of the plain. It is not 
necessary to suppose that Barak arranged his men high 
up Tabor ; though Tabor, an immemorial fortress, was 
there to fall back upon in case of defeat. The head- 
quarters of the muster were probably in the glen, at Tabor's 
foot, in the village Deburieh — perhaps a reminiscence of 
Deborah herself — which also in Roman times was occupied 
by the natives of Galilee in their revolt against the 
foreigner who held the Plain. 2 Here in the northern 
angle of Esdraelon, Barak watched till the lengthening 
line of his enemy's chariots drew out from the western 
angle at Tell el Kasis and stretched opposite to him, with 
Taanach and Megiddo behind them. They may even have 
turned north towards the Hebrew position. Then Barak 



1 Judges vii. and I Sam. xxix. 

3 Josephus (ii. Wars, xxi. 3) speaks of a garrison at Dabaritta, as it was 
called in his day, to 'keep guard on the Great Plain.' 



Esdraelon 395 

gave them battle in a fierce highland charge : into the 
valley his thousands rushed at his feet. It has been sup- 
posed that with the charge a storm broke from the north, 
for there was fighting from heaven, according to the poem, 
and Kishon was in full flood : — 

Torrent Kishon swept them away, 
Torrent of spates?- torrent Kishon / 

This means that the plain must already have been in a 
state in which it was impossible for chariots to manoeuvre. 
As another great feature of the battle the poem remem- 
bers the plunging of horses : — 

Then did the horse-hoofs stamp, 

By reason of the plungings, the plungings of their strong ones. 

The highland footmen had it all their own way. Theii 
charge came with such impetuosity upon a labouring and 
divided foe, that the latter — and this, too, shows how far 
Canaan had advanced across the plain — were scattered 
both east and west. The main flight turned back towards 
Harosheth, and the slaughter and the drowning must have 
been great in the narrow pass. But Sisera himself, who 
doubtless was in the van of his army as he led it east, 
seems to have fled eastward still, for according to the prose 
narrative the tent of Heber the Kenite, where he sought 
rest and found death, lay by the terebinth of Betsatanim by 
Kedesh on the plateau above the Lake of Galilee. It is 
the same direction as the French military maps show the 

1 An obscure expression. The word is plural. The LXX. render it of 
ancient times or deeds — inappropriate in a song which celebrates the first of 
these. Others take it of onsets, i.e. battles, from an Arabic application of the 
root. But, from this same, it is possible to deduce the meaning of onrushings 
of water, sudden floods or spates^ and thi* is the most natural. See Cooke, 
op. cit., 48. 



396 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



flight of the Turks to have taken in 1799, when Kleber's 
small squares, reinforced by Napoleon, broke up vastly 
superior numbers on the same field of Sisera's discomfiture. 1 
Barak's was a strange victory, in which highlanders 
had for once been helped, not hindered, by level ground. 
But the victory won that day by the Plain over the 
Canaanites was not so great as the victory won by Israel 
over the Plain. Esdraelon is broad and open enough to 
have been a frontier between two nations ; but the un- 
selfish tribes had overcome this difference between them. 
What in a century or two might have yawned to an 
impassable gulf, they had bridged once for all by their 
loyalty to the Ideal of a united people and a united 
fatherland. And the power of that Ideal was faith in a 

1 The above identification of the site of Kedesh is Major Conder's (T. W.). 
Cooke, op. cit., 12 f., suggests Kedesh of Issachar (1 Chron. vi. 72, cf. 76 ; 
Joshua xii. 22) between Taanach and Megiddo, with which he would identify 
the Kedesh of Barak, counting it an error to call this latter Kedesh-Naphtali. 
But Kedesh of Issachar was too near the battle and too much under the 
hills of Manasseh for Sisera to flee there, and still less would he have gone 
to it, if it had been Barak's seat. The plain of Zaanaim, Eng. ver., is in 
the original oak or terebinth of Besa'anaim (D^JJVB Q'ri D^JIJM evi- 
dently one word as LXX. take it, and because p^>X is in the genitive 
relation to "3), mentioned also in Josh. xix. 33 as Besa'ananim, LXX. 
Peo-efxUv, a place on the border of Naphtali. This is an additional argu- 
ment against identifying Kedesh with K. of Issachar. The LXX. fteaefxdw 
has suggested Kh. Bessum in the plateau west of the Lake, the name Kedesh 
lies east below, and Damieh, perhaps the Adami of Josh. xix. 33, close by 
north-west. Conder's choice, therefore, is well supported. The only other 
point is the alleged discrepancy between iv. 16, where Barak pursues the 
Canaanites west to Harosheth, and 22 where he pursued Sisera to Kedesh, 
i.e. east, if the above identification be correct. Now the double flight of the 
Canaanites, west and east, was very probable, for in both directions lay 
Canaanite towns. If so, Barak might despatch the main pursuit west, 
while he himself turned east after Sisera. To read the narrative as if it 
stated that Barak undertook in person both pursuits, is to treat it with 
a rigour which would force inconsistencies upon any succinct historical 
narrative. 



Esdraelon 



397 



common God. Well might Deborah open her song with 

the Hallelujah : — 

For that the leaders took the lead in Israel, 
For that the people offered themselves willingly, 
Bless ye Jehovah. 

(2) The next invaders, whom Israel had to meet upon 
Esdraelon, were Arabs from over Jordan, eastern 
Midianites. This time therefore they drew ^ Gideon 
to battle not upon Kishon and the western andM idian. 
watershed, but at the head of the long vale running down 
to Bethshan ; and as Manasseh was now the heart of the 
defence, the muster of Israel took place not at Tabor, 
but at Gilboa. Gideon and all the people that were with 
him pitched above the well of Harod, and the camp of 
Midian was to the north of him from Moreh into the Vale. 
That is to say, the Midianites took up practically the 
same position about Shunem as we shall see the Philis- 
tines occupy before their defeat of Saul. 1 Due south 
across the head of the Vale is the rugged end of Gilboa — 
Jezreel. standing off it — and on this Gideon, like Saul, drew 
up his men. The only wells are three, all lying in the 
Vale : one by Jezreel itself, one out upon the plain, and 
one close under the steep banks of Gilboa. Gideon'* 
The first and second of these lie open to the tactics, 
position of the Midianites, and tradition has rightly fixed 
on the third and largest, now called the 'Ain Jalud, as the 
well of Harod. 2 It bursts some fifteen feet broad and two 

1 It is doubtful how far the name Moreh extended eastward, but if the 
Beth-shittah of Judges vii. 22 be the present Shutta, then Moreh must be to 
the west of that, and is probably, as put above, the hill above Shunem, now 
known as Jebel Duhy. 

2 See P.E.F. SurveyXzxgz map. 'Ain el Meiyiteh is under Jezreel. 'Ain 
Tuba'un, where Saladin camped in 1187 (Tons Tubania ; ' Will, of Tyre, 
xxii. 26), is on the plain. The name 'Ain Jalud is interesting. Boha-ed- 







39S The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 

deep from the very foot of Gilboa, and mainly out of it 
but fed also by the other two springs, flows a stream 
considerable enough to work six or seven mills. The deep 
bed and soft banks of this stream constitute a formidable 
ditch in front of the position on Gilboa, and render it 
possible for the defenders of the latter to hold the spring 
at their feet in face of an enemy on the plain : and the 
spring is indispensable to them, for neither to the left, 
right, nor rear is there any other living water. Thus the 
conditions of the narrative in Judges vii. are all present, 
though it must be left to experts to say whether ten 
thousand men could be deployed in the course of an 
evening from the hill behind to the spring and the stream 
that flows from it. Anybody, however, who has looked 
across the scene can appreciate the suitability of the test 
which Gideon imposed on his men. The stream, which 
makes it possible for the occupiers of the hill to hold also 
the well against an enemy on the plain, forbids them to be 
careless in their use of the water ; for they drink in face 
of that enemy, and the reeds and shrubs which mark its 
course afford ample cover for hostile ambushes. Those 
Israelites, therefore, who bowed themselves down on their 

Din ( Vit. Salad, ch. xxiv. ) calls it 'Ain el Jalut or well of Goliath, with whose 
slaughter by David the Jerusalem Itinerary connects Jezreel (Jems. Itin. 
ed. P.P. T., see Stradela). But Jalut and the association with Goliath 
may both be due to a mishearing of Jalud. And Jalud has a striking 
resemblance to the Gile'ad of v. 3 of the story. It does not contain the 
letter 'ain, which the latter has, but we have many cases of 'ain being 
replaced by a long vowel. Major Conder, tempted by the name, has sug- 
gested the 'Ain el Jem 'ain, or Well of the Two Troops, at the foot of 
Gilboa, near Bethshan, as the well of Harod. But, in a pass which has been 
the scene of countless bivouacs and forays, it is futile to suppose that this 
name may refer to Gideon's two troops ; while if, as all are agreed, Shutta 
represents Beth-shittah, we must suppose the Arab position and Gideon's 
camp to the south of it to lie west of Shutta, up the vale. Gile'ad may be a 
misreading for Gilboa. 



Esdraelon 



399 



knees, drinking headlong, did not appreciate their position 
or the foe ; whereas those who merely crouched, lapping up 
the water with one hand, while they held their weapons in 
the other and kept their face to the enemy, were aware of 
their danger, and had hearts ready against all surprise. 
The test in fact was a test of attitude, which, after all, both 
in physical and moral warfare, has proved of greater 
value than strength or skill — attitude towards the foe and 
appreciation of his presence. In this case it was parti- 
cularly suitable. What Gideon had in view was a night 
march and the sudden surprise of a great host — tactics 
that might be spoiled by a few careless men. Soldiers 
who behaved at the water as did the three hundred, showed 
just the common-sense and vigilance to render such 
tactics successful. First, however, Gideon himself ex- 
plored the ground — two miles in breadth between his 
men and the Arab tents ; and heard, holding his breath 
the while, the talk of the two sentries, which revealed to 
him what stuff for panic Midian was. The rest is easily 
told. It was the middle watch — that dead of the night 
against which our Lord also warned His disciples. 1 The 
wary men, behind a leader who had made himself familiar 
with the ground, touched without alarm the Arab lines. 
They carried lights, as Syrian peasants do on windy 
nights, 2 in earthen pitchers, and they had horns hung upon 
tfiem. 3 They blew the horns, brake the pitchers, flashed 
cheir lights — that to the startled Arabs must have seemed 
the torchbearers and pointsmen of an immense host — and 

1 Judges vii. 19 f., Luke 'xii. 38. 

2 Thomson, The Land and the Book. 

8 If every man had a pitcher and a torch in it, he had no room in his 
hands for a horn. Every man had a horn, and probably it is implied a ligh* 
and pitcher too (ver. 16). 



400 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



shouted, The sword ! for Jehovah and Gideon ! But no 
sword was needed. Cumbered by their tents and cattle, 
the Midianites, as in several other instances of Arab war- 
fare, fell into a panic, drew upon each other, 

The rout. 

and finally fled down the Vale to Beth-shittah y 
to Sereda near Bethshan, 1 unto the lip of Abelmeholah, the 
deep bank over which the Vale of Jezreel falls into the 
valley of the Jordan, above the now unknown Tabbath. 2 

(3) The next campaign on Esdraelon — that of the 
Philistines against Saul — is more difficult to understand. 
(3) Saul and the ^ ls uncertain whether the narrative (1 Sam. 
Philistines. xxviii.-xxxi.) runs in our Bibles in the proper 
order ; and we do not know where Aphek lay. 

As the narrative now runs, the Philistines gather to war 
against Israel (xxviii. 1), and camp at Shunem, whereupon 

Order of the Saul g atners Israel, and camps on Gilboa (v. 4) 

narrative. {he Philistines then assemble at Aphek, and 
Israel pitches by a fountain in Jezreel (xxix. 1) ; the 
battle is joined, and Israel flee, and are slain in mount 
Gilboa (xxxi. 1). This order implies that Aphek was 
close to Shunem, on the line of the Philistine advance on 
Gilboa ; and accordingly it has been sought for, both at 

1 2 Chron. iv. 17, where it is described as in the Plain of Jordan. It is 
the same as Sartan, I Kings vii. 46 ; cf. Josh. iii. 16 ; I Kings iv. 12. 

2 In the above I have followed the plain course of the text, for it suits 
throughout the geographical conditions. But the reader ought to know 
that there are very great difficulties about parts of the narrative. Why 
should the Ephraimites afterwards complain of being called out too late, 
and Gideon represent that the work had been done by Abi'ezer alone 
(viii. 1, 2), if vi. 35 assures us that Gideon had already summoned the four 
tribes? No doubt most of them were sent back after the test, but there is 
no sign that those who passed the test were only Abi'ezrites. Because of 
this some critics (cf. Budde, Ri. u. Sa. 111 ff.) strike out vi. 35, and the 
story of the test vii. 2-8, and so leave the narrative to run as if Gideon 
never had more than 300 men, all from Abi'ezer, till after the defeat of 
Midian was achieved. 



Esdraelon 



401 



Fuleh on the Plain, where the Crusaders had a castle and 
Kleber's squares, in 1799, beat back the Turks ; and at 
Fuku'a, on Gilboa itself, on the road from Jenin to Beth- 
shan across the hill, as if the Philistines moved from 
Shunem to the south-east of Saul's position, and attacked 
him from the rear, and upon his own level. But neither 
of these sites has been proved to be Aphek. 1 

In the order of the Philistines' advance, however, ought 
not Shunem to be placed after Aphek ? Probably we 
should rearrange the chapters of the narrative, so as to 
put xxix.-xxx. between the second and third verses of 
xxviii. Then the order of events would run : the Philis- 
tine muster (xxviii. 1) ; their gathering to Aphek and the 
encampment of Israel by the fountain which is in Jezreel 
(xxix. 1) ; the Philistines' advance towards Jezreel {id. 11) ; 
their camp on Shunem and Israel's on Gilboa (xxviii. 4) ; 
the battle on Gilboa (xxxi. i). 2 On this order, the uncer- 
tainties are the position of Aphek and that of the fountain 
which is in Jezreel. Some have placed Aphek in Sharon, 
at the mouth of an easy pass into Samaria, identifying it 
with the Aphek of the previous Philistine invasion, when 
the ark was taken. 3 But this has not been proved, and in 

1 It is extremely unlikely that the Philistines should move from Shunem to 
the present Fuleh, for the latter is farther off than Shunem from Gilboa. It 
is Major Conder who suggests Fuku'a. We passed over the road from Jenin 
to Beth-shan. From the plain up to Fuku'a the road is easy for chariots, and 
about Fuku'a there is open ground. But the ground between that and the 
part of Gilboa above the 'Ain Jalud is broken by glens. Besides, there is no 
affinity between the names Aphek and Fuku'a. 

2 So Reuss, Budde, etc. 

8 2 Sam. iv. I. See chs. x. and xvii. On the identification of the two 
Apheks at which the Philistines pitched, see Wellh. Hist. Eng. Ed. p. 39, 
and Robertson Smith, O. T.J.C. p. 435. They go farther and absorb in this 
Aphek, the Aphek from which the Syrians attacked Samaria (1 Kings xx. 26). 
This is quite out of the question. 

2 C 



402 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



connection with the passage before us, it is hard to believe 
that Saul's advance to the Plain of Esdraelon, which is 
given as simultaneous with the Palestine gathering at 
Aphek, should have taken place while the Philistines were 
still in Sharon, for that would have been to leave all Ben- 
jamin and Ephraim undefended to their pleasure. Saul 
must have followed the Philistines to Esdraelon ; and it is 
almost impossible to think of him leaving Jenin, the great 
entrance to the hill-country of Israel, 1 and advancing to 
Gilboa till he saw the Philistines move across the plain to 
Shunem. In this case, while Aphek remains unknown, 
we might take the fountain which is in fezreel to be the 
great fountain at Jenin, 'Ain Gannim, Jezreel being in- 
tended for the whole district. That would give us a 
consistent story of the earlier stages of the campaign. 2 

However that may be, the rest is clear. The Philistines 
had entered Esdraelon — doubtless by Megiddo. Had 
The Battle of their aim been the invasion of the hill-country, 
Mount Giiboa. they would have turned south-east to Jenin, 

and Saul would have met them there. That, instead, we 
find them striking north-east to Shunem, at the head of 
the Vale of Jezreel, proves that at least their first intention 
had to do with the Valley of the Jordan. Either they had 
come to subjugate all the low country, and so confine 
Israel, as the Canaanites did, to the hills, or else they 
sought to secure their caravan route to Damascus and 
the East, from Israel's descents upon it by the roads 
from Bezek to Bethshan and across Gilboa. 8 In either 

1 See p. 356. 

2 The only other alternative, of supposing two differing narratives, one of 
which assigns the Philistine muster to Aphek, the other to Shunem, is not so 
probable. 

3 This would afford a parallel to their occupation of Michmash (1 Sam. xiii. 5) 



Esdraelon 



case Saul must not be permitted to remain where he was 5 
for from Gilboa he could descend with equal ease upon 
Esdraelon and the Valley of the Jordan. They attacked 
him, therefore, on his superior position. Both the narra- 
tive of the battle and the great Elegy in which the defeat 
was mourned imply that the righting was upon the heights 
of Gilboa, and yet upon ground over which cavalry and 
chariots might operate. 1 The Philistines could not carry 
Saul's position directly from Shunem, for that way the 
plain dips, and the deep bed of the stream intervenes and 
the rocks of Gilboa are steep and high. 2 But they went 
round Jezreel, and attacked the promontory of the hill by 
the easier slopes and wadies to the south, which lead up 
to open ground about the village of Nuris, and directly 
above the 'Ain Jalud. Somewhere on these slopes they 
must have encountered that desperate resistance which 
cost Israel the life of three of the king's sons ; and some- 
where higher up the gigantic king himself, wounded and 
pressed hard by the chariots and horsemen, yet imperious 
to the last, commanded his own death. 3 

on the trade-route from Ajalon to Jericho, and to the trace of Philistine 
occupation which appears in the name Beth-Dagon near Shechem, on the 
only other pass from east to west across the Central Range. On the Philis- 
tines as traders, see ch. ix. 

1 i Sam. xxxi. i,fell down wounded on Mount Gilboa ; u Sam. i. 6, upon 
Mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned on his spear ; and, lo, the chariots and the 
horsemen followed hard after him ; cf. in the Elegy, vv. 19, high places ; 21, 
Ye hills of Gilboa . . . for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, 
SauPs shield ; 25, Jonathan, slain on thy high places. 2 See p. 398. 

3 The above view of the battle was formed on the ground, and I am glad 
to find that in the main it is the same as that of so expert an observer as 
Principal Miller, who surveyed the ground in detail, and gives both a gradual 
description of the course of the fight and careful plans, that include not only 
the contours of the ground, but what he believes to have been successive 
positions of the hard-pressed Israelites. Principal Miller exposes the errors 
in Dean Stanley's account, in which the battle is described as on the plain, 



404 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



And David sang this dirge over Shdul and Jehona- 
The Dirge, than his son : 1 Behold it is written in ths 
Book of the Brave? 

Israel, the Beauty is slain on thy heights. 
How fallen are the mighty I 

Tell it not in Gath, 

Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon / 

Lest they rejoice, the daughters of the Philistines ; 

Lest they make triumph, the uncircumciseds daughters. 

Hills of Gilboa, 

Let not dew, let not rain be upon you, 
Ye fields of discomfiture ! 3 

For there thrown to rust is the shield of the mighty, 
ShduVs shield ufianointed with oil} 

From the blood of the slain, 

From the fat of the mighty, 

Bow of Jehonathan drew not back, 

Nor sword of Shdul came home empty. 



and only the flight on the hills. But surely he himself is not justified in de- 
claring from xxix. 11 that the Philistines occupied the town of Jezreel before 
the battle. He conceives Saul's position on Gilboa to be due to his rash 
designs of adding to his kingdom the whole of Northern Palestine — rash, for 
so Saul left Benjamin and Ephraim undefended. This, however, is not 
certain. The Least of all Lands, ch. vi. Plans on pp. 151 and 171. 

1 Gloss : He bade the?n teach the children of fudah dirges or lamentations, 
reading fiUp for fiB>p. 2 the Upright, Valiant. 

3 The text is JIID'nfi'HB'l, which is really unintelligible, as the Massoretes 
divide it, but by a very little alteration reads DIDIHE or TmW), fields 
of discomfitures, frustrations, wrecks. Other readings are Lucian's fllO 

hills of death, which Renan follows, taking as a later variant that has 
been wrongly brought into the text from the margin ; Stade's 
nor field of sheaves ; Klostermann's iTDT fillip. Another reading might 
be niftN") fine, cf. Prov. xxiv. 7 : Justi, Nationalgesdnge der Hebr. i. 72, 
translates Hohes Schlachtfeld. Still another possibility is that D^DTj the word 
for blood, is lurking among the last letters. This would be natural, for it is 
a common Semitic idea that no rain or dew will bless the spot stained by the 
blood of a slain man. 

* The parallelism shows that the oil refers to the well-known practice of 
rubbing shields with oil to preserve them, and not to Saul, translating as ij 
he were not the Anointed. 



Esdraelon 



405 



Shdul and Jehonathan, the lovely, the pleasant 

In their lives and in their death they were not divided: 

Than eagles they were swifter, 

Than lions more strong. 

Daughters of Isrrfel, weep for Shdul, 

Who clothed you in scarlet with jewels ; 

Who brought up adorning of gold on your raiment. 

How fallen are the mighty I 
In the midst of the battle 
Jehonathan, on thy heights, is slain / 

Anguish is mine for thy sake, O my brother I 
jehonathan, thou wert very fair to me I 
Thy love to ?ne was wonderful, 
Passing the love of women. 

How fallen are the mighty, 

And perished the weapons of war I 

(4) Esdraelon was the scene of another lamentation for 
another king in Israel. In Jeremiah's time it had long been 
prophesied that Egypt would come upon the ^ j osiah 
land, but the people did not heed it, saying, and Egypt 
Pharaoh is but a rumour, the time appointed is past. 
Jeremiah replied he should come, as surely as Tabor is 
among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea} And so he 
did by Megiddo, till his host filled the plain between these 
hills as solid and present a fact as either of them. 2 Josiah, 

1 Jer. xlvi. 18. 

2 It is doubtful whether Pharaoh Necho came to Syria by the usual land 
route, or, as Vespasian on one occasion sent his troops, by sea (Herod, ii. 158), 
and Cheyne suggests Dor as his landing-place {Life and Time of ferem., 96). 
But the only ground for the latter alternative is the conjunction in Herod, 
of Necho's ship-building with his campaign ; and, if he had come by sea, he 
would surely have landed not at Dor, but at Acco, in which case, however, he 
would not have marched so far south again as Megiddo. The battle at Megiddo 
suits the land route. The Md.y5a\ot of Herodotus is no doubt a corruption of 
Megiddon. Mevdrj, in Jos. x. Anlt. v. 1., is a patent error, "HIJID for TlJE). 
and an interesting proof of the terrible risks which the place-names of Palestini 
have been subject to in seven or eight languages. 



406 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



who had no need to put himself in Pharaoh's way, had 
rashly ventured opposition at Megiddo. But his army was 
The Battle routed, and himself mortally wounded as soon 
of Megiddo. as j^gy met. 1 And Jeremiah made a dirge upon 
Josiah, and all the singing-men and the singing-women speak 
of Josiah in their dirges to this day. So they made the7n a 
custom in Israel ; and, lo, they are written among The 
Dirges? And the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Vale 
of Megiddon became a proverb in Israel. 3 The dirges of 
Jeremiah have perished, and, indeed, he himself depre- 
cated the extremes to which this national lamentation 
was carried. Israel was approaching a greater calamity 
which would require all her tears : 

' Weep not for the dead, nor bemoan him, 
But weeping weep for him that goeth away, 
For he shall never come back, nor see the land of his birth? * 

(5) The rest of the historical scenes of Esdraelon, there 
is space only to enumerate. But perhaps the mere 
succession of them will impress us, more than 

(5) The . r 

Pageant of detailed accounts could do, with the constant 

Esdraelon. _ . 

pageant of commerce, war, and judgment, 
which throughout the centuries has traversed this wonderful 
arena. From Jezreel you see the slaughter-place of the 
priests of Baal ; you see Jehu's ride from Bethshan to the 

vineyard of Naboth at your feet ; you see the 

The Syrians. 

enormous camp 01 rlolofernes spreading Irom 
the hills above Jenin, out to Kuamon in the plain ; 6 you 

1 2 Kings xxiii. 29, as soon as he had seen him. 

1 2 Chron. xxxv. 24, 25. 8 Zech. xii. II. 4 Jer. xxii. 10. 

5 Judith vii. 3. Ki/a^uwv^ bean -field, has been identified with Tell Keimun 
at the foot of Carmel ; but some think to find it at Fuleh, which also means 
bean. The description of Kva^wv which is opposite Esdraelon (name of plain 
or of city?) suits both Keimun and Fuleh. 



Esdraelon 



see the marches and counter - marches of Syrians, 
Egyptians, and Jews in the Hasmonean days 1 — the 
elephants and engines of Antiochus, the litters of Cleopatra 
and her ladies. The Romans come and plant 

. .... - The Romans. 

their camps and stamp their mighty names for 
ever on the soil, Legio and Kastra ; Pompey, Mark 
Antony, Vespasian, and Titus pass at the head of their 
legions, 2 and the men of Galilee sally forth upon them 
from the same nooks in the hills of Naphtali from which 
their forefathers broke with Barak upon the chariots of 
Canaan. 3 After the Roman war comes the Roman peace, 
and for a great interval of centuries Esdraelon is no more 
blotted by the black tents of the Bedouin ; but a broad 
civilisation grows between her and Arabia, and Jordan is 
bridged, and from the Greek cities of the Decapolis 
chariots and bands of soldi ers, officials, and Early 
provincial wits on their way to Rome, pass to Chnstians - 
the ports of Csesarea and Ptolemais. 4 In the fourth 
century* Christian pilgrims arrive, and cloisters are built 
from Bethshan to Carmel. 6 Three centuries 

The Moslem. 

of this, and then through their old channel the 

Desert swarms sweep back, now united by a common faith, 

1 I Mace. xii. 41-52, recounting Trypho's treacherous capture of Jonathan 
Maccabeus, which added another to the woes and lamentations of this tragic 
jlain. Jos. xiii. Antt. ix. 3 : Demetrius II., defeated by Alexander Zabinas, falls 
back on Ptolemais (Acre). Ibid. x. 2, Hyrcanus moves between Sebaste and 
Scythopolis. Ibid, xii., Alexander Janneus takes Ptolemais, and fights wfth 
the Egyptian forces between that and Jordan, cir. 103 B.C. Ib. xiii. Cleopatra, 
mother of Ptolemy Lathurus, besieges Ptolemais, and meets Alexander Janneus 
in Bethshan. Ib. xiv. 1 : So Demetrius Eucherus went up to Shechem at the 
call of the Pharisees, xv. 2: So Aretas must have come from Damascus to 
Adida. 

a See references on p. 410. • Jos. ii. Wars, xxi. 3. 

4 Cf. Mommsen's Provitues of the Roman Empire, Eng. Ed. II. ch. %. 

5 For authorities, see p. 17. 



408 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



and with the vigour of a new civilisation ; you see before 
them the rout of the Greek army up the Vale of Jezreel. 1 
The Arabs stay for nearly five hundred years, obliterating 
the past, distorting the familiar and famous names. Then 
the ensigns of Christendom return. Crusading castles 
rise — on the Plain Sapham and Faba 2 under 
' the black and white banner of the Templars, 
and high up on the ridge north of Bethshan — so high 
and far that it is called by the Arabs Star-of-the- 
Wind — Belvoir under the Red Cross of the Hospitallers. 3 
Cloisters are rebuilt, and thriving villages, for justice and 
shelter given them, bring their tribute to the Abbey of 
Mount Tabor ; pilgrims throng from all lands, and the 
holy memories are replanted — not always on their proper 
sites. 4 Once more by Bethshan the Arabs break the line 
Return of °^ the Christian defence, and Saladin spreads 
the Moslem, j^s cam p w here Israel saw those of Midian and 
the Philistines ; 5 through a long hot summer the castles 
of the Cross yield one by one, till Belvoir holds out alone, 
flying the Red Cross for eighteen months over a Saracen 
country. Finally, after two last forlorn hopes — one of 
Andrew of Hungary, who carried the Cross to the top of 
Tabor, and was beaten down again, 6 and one of Saint 

1 See p. 359. 

2 ' The Bean : ' also called La Feve and La Fene, Rey, Col. Ft: 439 ; 
Rdhricht, Z.D.P.V. x. 231, 232. Known to the Saracens as El-Fulah = 
' The Bean.' Boha-ed-din Saladin, ch. 24., Abulfeda Ed. Schultens, p. 41. 

3 Arabic, Kaukab-el-Hawa ; called by Franks also Delehawa : Prutz, 
Z.D.P. V. p. 168. 

4 Rohricht, op. cit. on p. 17. 

8 At the fountain of Tubania, a little way out on the plain north of Jezreel, 
c£ P- 397 n. 2. This was in 1 186 when Saladin had to retire, but he returned 
and won the decisive battle of Hatttn on 14th June 1 187, and occupied Acre 
9th July, took Jerusalem 11 88, but Belvoir did not fall till Jan. 1189. 

6 Andrew in 1217, the Sixth Crusade ; Louis in 1270, the Eighth Crusade 



Esdraelon 



409 



Louis of France, who marched to Jordan and back — 
Esdraelon is closed to the arms of the West, till in 1799 
Napoleon with his monstrous ambition of an 

. . Napoleon. 

Empire on the Euphrates, breaks into it by 
Megiddo, and in three months again, from the same 
fatal stage, falls back upon the first great Retreat of his 
career. 

What a Plain it is ! Upon which not only the greatest 
empires, races, and faiths, east and west, have contended 
with each other, but each has come to The Battle of 
judgment— on which from the first, with all Armageddon, 
its splendour of human battle, men have felt that there 
was fightiiig from heaven, the stars in their courses were 
fighting — on which panic has descended so mysteriously 
upon the best equipped and most successful armies, but 
the humble have been exalted to victory in the hour of 
their weakness — on which false faiths, equally with false 
defenders of the true faith, have been exposed and 
scattered — on which since the time of Saul wilfulness and 
superstition, though aided by every human excellence, 
have come to nought, and since Josiah's time the purest 
piety has not atoned for rash and mistaken zeal. The 
Crusaders repeat the splendid folly of the kings of Israel ; 
and, alike under the old and the new covenant, a degene- 
rate church suffers here her judgment at the hands of the 
infidel. 

They go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole 
world to gather them to the battle of the great Day of God 
Almighty . . . and He gathered them together unto a place 
called in the Hebrew tongue Har Megeddon. 



4io The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



NOTE TO PAGE 407.— REFERENCES TO THE ROMANS 
ON ESDRAELON. 

Pompey, 64 B.C., xiv. Antt. iii. 4, iv. 5, Mark Antony under Gabinius, 
in the campaign under Gabinius, 57-55, Ibid. v. Caesar, in 47 B.C., visited 
Syria by sea, Ibid. viii. 3 and 6, by sea to Cilicia, ix. I ; but we do not 
know where he touched (cf. Sueton. Julius, 35). Antony was again in Syria 
in 40 B.C., Ibid. xiii. I and from 36-33 partly, with Cleopatra in xv.Antt. iv., 
i. Wars, xviii., Plutarch, Anton. 36-51. Vespasian reached Ptolemais in 67 
a.d. iii. Wars, ii. f£ Titus joined him, Ibid. iv. For these operations in 
Esdraelon and Lower Galilee, Ibid. vL ff., cf. Sueton, Vespasian, 5. Tacitus, 
Hist, iv, 51. 



CHAPTER XX 
GALILEE 



For this Chapter consult Maps I. and VI. 



GALILEE 



HIS name, which binds together so many of the 



most holy memories of our race, means in itself 
nothing more than The Ring. Galil, as the , GaHUe f 
easily slipping letters testify, is anything that tht Gentiles: 
rolls, or is round. 1 Like our circle, or circuit, it was 
applied geographically to any well-defined region, as, for 
example, the region east of Jerusalem, which Ezekiel calls 
the Eastern Galilee, or to the Galilees of the Jordan, or to 
the Galilees of the Philistines} How it came to be the 
peculiar title of one district, and take rank among the 
most significant names of the world, was as follows. 
Gelil ha-G6im — Ring or Region of the Gentiles, a phrase 
analogous to the German Heidenmark — was applied to the 
northern border of Israel, which was pressed and permeated 

1 (cf- trie Greek KvX-ivdpov), is used of balls, cylinders or rings (Esther 
i. 6 ; Cant. v. 14), or the leaf of a door turning on its hinge (1 Kings vi. 34). 

1 .But in all these cases it was the feminine. rOEHpn H Wan , the region 

to the east of Jerusalem (Ezek. xlvii. 8). Plural JTVH , the circles of 

Jordan (Josh. xxn. 10, II) ; cf. Winks of Forth.' FI^D (Joel iv. 4), 

circles of the Philistines (cf. Josh. xiii. 2). This name may possibly survive 
in the Crusaders' Galilaea, name of a casale, and ' tota Galilea,' name of a 
district in the neighbourhood of Csesarea. Prutz, Besitzungen des Johanniter- 
ordens in Pal. u. Syr. Z.D.P. V. iv. 157 ff. with map. Prutz refers it to 
Kalkilye, but it is more probably the present Jelil, in the same neighbour- 
hood. 




414 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



from three sides by foreign tribes. Thence the name 
gradually spread, till in Isaiah's time it was as far 
south as the Lake of Gennesaret. 1 By the time of the 
Maccabees it had reached the Plain of Esdraelon, and 
covered the whole of the most northerly of the three 
provinces into which, after the Exile, the land west of 
Jordan was divided. 2 

The population remained far more Gentile than before. 
The Jews who settled in Galilee after the Return from 
Galilee of Babylon were few, and about 164 B.C. Simon 
the jews. Maccabeus had to bring them all back to 
Judaea. 3 But the extension of the Jewish state under 
John Hyrcanus, 135-105, must have enabled many Jews 
fco return to the attractive province without fear of per- 
secution, and either that monarch or his successor added 
Galilee to his domains, and sought to enforce the law 
upon its inhabitants. 4 Very soon afterwards, in 104, 
Galilee had developed a loyalty to the Jewish state suffi- 
cient to throw off a strong invader. 5 From this time 

1 Isa. ix. I (Heb. viii. 23). 

2 In 1 Mace, the boundaries are indefinite. Galilee was still, in a sense, 
distinct from the Great Plain, xii. 47, 49 ; but it covered the neighbourhood 
of Ptolemais (Acre), v. 55. 

3 1 Mace. v. 23. Schtirer {Hist. i. 1, 192) rightly corrects Keil on this 
verse. 

4 Schiirer {Hist. i. I, 294) thinks that the Jewish conquest of Galilee was 
not made till Aristobulus I. 105-104 B.C. But the conquest of Itursean terri- 
tory N. E. of Galilee, which is mentioned by Josephus (xiii. Antt. xL 3) as 
the only triumph of the brief reign of Aristobulus, could hardly have been 
undertaken without the previous conquest of Galilee by his predecessor ; and 
with this agrees the ambiguous statement that Hyrcanus had his son Alex- 
ander brought up in Galilee [id. xii. 1). In the opening of next reign, 
Alexander Janneus (104-78), we find Galilee so thoroughly Jewish that 
Ptolemy Lathurus has difficulty in his siege of Asochis, and is unable to take 
Sepphoris [ib. 4, 5). This seems to require, for the Judaising of Galilee, an 
earlier date in the reign of John Hyrcanus. 

5 See previous Note. 



Galilee 



415 



onwards it was, therefore, natural to drop out of her name 
the words, of the Gentiles, which were before this time not 
always used, but the definite article was retained, and 
throughout the New Testament she was known as The 
Galilee. It was, we can understand, pleasing to the 
patriotism of her proud inhabitants to call their famous 
and beautiful province, The Region. 1 

The natural boundaries of Galilee are obvious. South, 
the Plain of Esdraelon (and we have seen why this 
frontier should be the southern and not the 

The Bound- 
northern edge of the plain 2 ) ; north, the great aries of 

9 rr Galilee ' 

gorge of the Litany or Kasimiyeh, 3 cutting off 
Lebanon ; east, the valley of the Jordan and the Lake of 
Gennesaret ; and west, the narrow Phoenician coast. This 
region coincides pretty closely with the territories of four 
tribes — Issachar, Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali. But the 
sea-coast, claimed for Zebulun and Asher, never belonged 
either to them or to the province of Galilee : it was always 
Gentile. On the other hand, owing to the weakness of 
the Samaritans, Carmel was reckoned to Galilee when it 
was not in the hands of the men of Tyre ; 4 and the eastern 

1 Wjn (josh. xx. 7, xxi. 32 ; 1 Chron. vi. 76). pN (1 Kings ix. 11). 

D^Jn (Isa. viii. 23). In 2 Kings xv. 29, n^jnTIK, it is not the 

feminine form, but the masculine, with H paragog., that is used. The 

feminine is not applied in Hebrew to Galilee (for its uses see p. 413, 

n. I.) But the LXX. render FaXtXata. In Tsa. viii. 23 (LXX. and 

Eng. ix. i) TaXiXaia tQv iOvQu. In the Apocrypha it is TaXiXaia ' AX\6(pv\uv 
(cf. 1 Mace. v. 15, etc.). The definite article is omitted only in I Mace, 
x. 30. And so in the N.T. it is t/ Ta\i\ala, the definite article being 
omitted only twice. 2 See p. 379. 

3 Too readily assumed to be the Lion River, Leontes {Atovros ttot6.ia(h 
e/c/3oXdt) of Ptolemy, v. 15, which he places between Sidon and Beyrout, 
and which, if he was right, may be the Botrenus, the present Nahr el Awleh. 
There is no connection between the names Litany and Leontes. 

* Josephus, iii. Wars, iii. I. See p. 338. 



4i 6 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



shores of Gennesaret also fell within the province. 1 Ex- 
clusive of these two additions, Galilee measured about 
fifty miles north to south, and from twenty-five to thirty- 
five east and west. The area was only about 1600 square 
miles, or that of an average English shire. 

From the intricacy of its highlands, the map of Galilee 
seems at first impossible to arrange to the eye. But, 
The divisions w * tn a llttie care > tne ruling features are dis- 
of Gahiee. tinguished, and the whole province falls into 
four divisions. There is the Jordan Valley with its two lakes, 
that singular chasm, which runs along the east of Galilee, 
sinking from Hermon's base to more than 700 feet below 
the level of the ocean. 2 From this valley, and corresponding 
roughly to its three divisions, — below the Lake of Tiberias, 
the lake itself, and above the lake, — three belts or strips 
run westward : first, the Plain of Esdraelon ; second, the 
so-called Lower Galilee, a series of long parallel ranges, all 
below 1850 feet, which, with broad valleys between them, 
cross from the plateau above Tiberias to the maritime 
plains of Haifa and Acre ; and third, Upper Galilee, a 
series of plateaus, with a double water-parting, and sur- 
rounded by hills from 2000 to 4000 feet. 3 As you gaze 

1 Thus, Judas who led the revolt against them in 6 a.d. is called the 
Galilean, avrjp TaXtXcuos (Josephus ii. Wars, viii. i), although he belonged 
to Gamala in Gaulanitis (xviii. Antt. i. i). Just in the same way at this day 
'the whole coast district is under the administration of the Kada Tubariya.' 
(Schumacher, The Jauldn, p. 103. ) It is the most convenient arrangement. 

2 Opposite Bethshan. 

3 The division between Upper and Lower Galilee is very evident on the 
map. It runs, roughly speaking, from the north end of the Lake of Galilee 
(or to the south of Safed), by the Wady Maktul leading up from the Plain of 
Gennesaret, thence by the level ground between Kefr Anan and er Rameh 
due west towards Acre. South of this line there is no height of over 1850 
feet, the peaks run from 1000 to 1850, with Jebel es Sih 1838, and Tabor 
1843. But north of this line the steep constant wall of the northern plateau 
rises almost immediately, and figures from 2000 to 3000 are frequent on the 



Galilee 



north from the Samarian border, these three zones rise in 
steps above one another to the beginnings of Lebanon ; 
and from the north-east, over the gulf of the Jordan, the 
snowy head of Hermon looks down athwart them. 

The controlling feature* of Galilee is her relation to 
these great mountains. A native of the region has aptly 
described it in the picture he gives of God's TheLebanons 
grace. / will be as the dew unto Israel; he andGalllee - 
shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots like 
Lebanon} Galilee is literally the casting forth of the roots 
of Lebanon. As the supports of a great oak run up above 
ground, so the gradual hills of Galilee rise from Esdraelon 
and Jordan and the Phoenician coast, upon that tremen- 
dous northern mountain. It is not Lebanon, however, 
but the opposite range of Hermon, which dominates the 
view. Among his own roots Lebanon is out of sight ; 
whereas that long, glistening ridge, that stands aloof, 
always brings the eye back to itself. In summer, hot 
harvesters from every field lift their hearts to Hermon's 
snow ; and the heavy dews of night they call his gift. 
How closely Hermon was identified with Galilee, is seen 
from his association with the most characteristic of the 
Galilean hills : Tabor and Hermon rejoice in Thy name? 

To her dependence on the Lebanons Galilee owes her 

map. The Talmud marks this line of division as follows : ' Upper Galilee 
above Kefar Hananyah, a country where sycomores are not found ; Lower 
Galilee below Kefar Hananyah, which produces sycomores.' Kefar Hananyah 
is no doubt the present Kefr Anan. Josephus gives the breadth of Lower 
Galilee (north and south) as from Xaloth, at the roots of Tabor, to Berseba, 
which has not been identified, but which may be the present Kh. Abu esh 
Sheba in the immediate neighbourhood of Kefr Anan. 

1 Hosea xiv. 5. 

2 Psalm lxxxix. 12. How far they believed its influence to travel may 
be seen from that other psalm : • The dew of Hermon that comcth down on 
the mountains of Zion ' (Psalm exxxiii.). 

2 D 



4i 8 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



water and her immense superiority in fruitfulness to both 
Judaea and Samaria. This is not because Galilee has a 

w greater rainfall — her excess in that respect is 
slight, 1 and during the dry season showers are 
almost as unknown as in the rest of Palestine. But the 
moisture, seen and unseen, which the westerly winds lavish 
on the Lebanons, are stored by them for Galilee's sake, and 
dispensed to her with unfailing regularity all round the 
year. They break out in the full-born rivers of the Upper 
Jordan Valley, and in the wealth of wells among her 
hills. When Judaea is dry they feed the streams of Gen- 
nesaret and Esdraelon. In winter the springs of Kishon 
burst so richly from the ground, that the Great Plain about 
Tabor is a quagmire ; even in summer there are fountains 
in Esdraelon, round which the thickets keep green ; and 
in the glens running up to Lower Galilee the paths cross 
rivulets and sometimes wind round a marsh. In the long 
cross valleys, winter lakes last till July, 2 and farther north 
the autumn streams descend both watersheds with a music 
unheard in Southern Palestine. In fact, the difference in 
this respect between Galilee and Judaea is just the differ- 
ence between their names — the one liquid and musical 
like her running waters, the other dry and dead like the 
fall of your horse's hoof on her blistered and muffled rock. 

So much water means an exuberant fertility. We have 
seen what Esdraelon is, and we may leave for separate 
treatment the almost tropic regions of the Jordan 

1 The figures are few for Nazareth (we owe them to Dr. Vartan). Com- 
paring them with those for Jerusalem by Dr. Chaplin, Anderlind makes out 
a difference of 4'l6 centimetres in the annual rainfall; Jerusalem, 57-01; 
Nazareth, 61 '17. Jerusalem is 2300 feet above the sea, Nazareth, about 1000. 

3 So the Plaia of Buttauf was in that month still partly a lake. — Conder'st 
Ttnt Work- 



Galilee 



419 



Valley. But take Lower and Upper Galilee, with their 
more temperate climate. They are almost as well wooded 
as our own land. Tabor is covered with bush, 
and on its northern side with large, loose groves 
of forest trees. The road which goes up from the Bay of 
Carmel to Nazareth winds, as among English glades, with 
open woods of oak and an abundance of flowers and grass. 
Often, indeed, as about Nazareth, the limestone breaks out 
not less bare and dusty than in Judaea itself, but over the 
most of Lower Galilee there is a profusion of bush, with 
scattered forest trees — holly-oak, maple, sycomore, bay- 
tree, myrtle, arbutus, sumac and others — and in the valleys 
olive orchards and stretches of fat corn-land. Except for 
some trees like the sycomore, Upper Galilee is quite as 
rich. It is 'an undulating table-land, arable, and every- 
where tilled, with swelling hills in view all round, covered 
with shrubs and trees.' 1 Above Tyre there is a great 
plateau, sloping westwards. It is 'all cultivated, and 
thronged with villages/ To the south of the Wady el 
Ma the country is more rugged, and cultivation is now 
pursued only in patches ; 2 yet even here are vines and 
olives. Round Jotapata Josephus speaks of timber being 
cut down for the town's defence. 3 Gischala was Gush- 
halab, ' fat soil,' 4 and was noted for its oil. Throughout 
the province olives were so abundant that a proverb ran, 
* It is easier to raise a legion of olives in Galilee than to 
bring up a child in Palestine.' 5 Even on the high water- 

1 Robinson, L.R. See also P.E.F. Mem. Survey ', iii. 

2 P.E.F. Mem. iii., Galilee. 

8 iii. Wars, vii. 8 ; cf. vi. 2. * Neubauer, GSog. du Talmud. 

8 Talmud, quoted by Neubauer, p. 180. The abundance of oil in Galilee is 
well illustrated in the use made of boiling oil by the defenders of Jotapata, 
who poured great quantities of it on the Roman soldiers (iii. Wars, vii. 28). 



420 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



parting between Huleh and the Mediterranean, the helcfs 
are fertile, while the ridges are covered with forests of 
small oaks. To the inhabitants of such a land, the more 
luxuriant vegetation of the hot plains on either side spreads 
its temptations in vain. 

* Asher, his bread is fat, 
And he yieldeth the dainties of a king. 
Blessed be Asher above children, 
And let him dip his foot in oil I 
O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, 
And full of the blessing of fehovah* 1 

But it is luxury where luxury cannot soften. On these 
broad heights, open to the sunshine and the breeze, life is 
free and exhilarating. 

1 Naphtali is as a hind let loose? 8 

This beautiful figure fully expresses the feelings which are 
bred by the health, the spaciousness, the high freedom 
and glorious outlook of Upper Galilee. 

To so generous a land the inhabitants, during that part 
of her history which concerns us, responded with energy 
Culture and ' Their soil,' says Josephus, ' is universally rich 
Population. and fruitful an( j f u n G f the plantations of trees 
of all sorts, insomuch that it invites, by its fruitfulness, the 
most slothful to take pains in its cultivation. Accordingly 
it is all cultivated by its inhabitants, and no part of it lies 

1 Gen. xlix. 20 ; Deut. xxxiii. 23, 24. 

3 Gen. xlix. 21. Another reading, partly suggested by the LXX., is 
adopted by Ewald, Dillmann, and others, Naphtali is a slender terebinth 
giving forth goodly boughs. Other ancient versions, however, support the 
Massoretic text ; and while, as we have seen, the figure of a tree is not 
inapplicable to the mountains of Naphtali, that of a slender tree is quite 
absurd. The ordinary reading is, as shown above, beautifully suited to a 
people in the position of Naphtali. 



Galilee 



421 



idle.' 1 The villages were frequent, there were many forti- 
fied towns, and the population was very numerous. We 
may not accept all that Josephus reports in these respects 
— he reckons a population of nearly three millions — but 
there are good reasons for the possibility of his high 
figures ; 2 and in any case the province was very thickly 
peopled. Save in the recorded hours of our Lord's praying, 
the history of Galilee has no intervals of silence and lone- 
liness ; the noise of a close and busy life is always audible ; 
and to every crisis in the Gospels and in Josephus we see 
crowds immediately swarm. 

One other national feature of Galilee must not be passed 
over. The massive limestone of her range is broken here 
and there by volcanic extrusions — an extinct volcanic 
crater, for instance, near Gischala, 3 dykes of elements - 
basalt, and scatterings of lava upon the plateau above the 
lake. Hot sulphur springs flow by Tiberias, and the 
whole province has been shaken by terrible earthquakes. 4 
The nature of the people was also volcanic. Josephus 
describes them as 1 ever fond of innovations, and by nature 
disposed to changes, and delighting in sedi- The Galilean 
tions.' 6 They had an ill name for quarrelling. tem P er - 
From among them came the chief zealots and wildest 
fanatics of the Roman wars. 6 We remember two Galileans 

1 iii. Wars, iii. 2. 

2 See those given by Dr. Selah Merrill in his valuable monograph on 
Galilee in the Time of Christ. ' Bypaths of Bible Knowledge ' Series, 
London, 1891. 8 Sahel-el-Jish. 

4 The most recent was that in 1837, which overthrew the walls of Tiberias, 
and killed so large a number of the population of Safed and other towns. 

5 Life, xvii. ; xvii. Antt. x. 5 ; xx. id. vi. I ; i. Wars, xvi. 5 ; ii. id. xvii. 8 ; 
Tacitus, Ann. xii. 54. 

* Judas, the Galilean from Gamala, in Jaulan, a.d. 6 (xviii. Antt. i. I ; ii 
Wars, vlii. 1). His sons, James and Simon, were executed by Tiberius Alex 



4? 2 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



who wished to call down fire from heaven on those who 
were only discourteous to them. 1 Yet this inner fire is 
an essential of manhood. It burns the meanness out of 
men, and can flash forth in great passions for righteous- 
ness. From first to last, the Galileans were a chivalrous 
and a gallant race. 

' Zebulun was a people jeopardifig their life to the death, 
And Naphtali on the high places of the field. 1 2 

With the same desperate zeal, their sons attempted the 
forlorn hope of breaking the Roman power. * The country,' 
says Josephus proudly, 1 hath never been destitute of men 
of courage/ 3 Their fidelity, often unreasoning and ill- 
tempered, was always sincere. 1 The Galileans/ according 
to the Talmud, 'were more anxious for honour than for 
money ; the contrary was true of Judaea.' 4 For this cause 
also our Lord chose His friends from the people ; and it 
was not a Galilean who betrayed Him. 

When we turn from the physical characteristics of this 
province of the subterranean fires and waters to her poli- 
tical geography, we find influences as bold and 
Political . , , „_ 

Geography inspiring as those we have noted. We may 

select three as the chief — the neighbourhood 
of classic scenes of Hebrew history ; the great world- 
roads which crossed Galilee ; the surrounding heathen 
civilisations. 

ander (xx. Antt. v. 2) ; his grandson, Manahem, was prominent in the revolt of 
66 (ii. Wars, xvii. 8, 9), and a descendant, Eleazar, was captain of the Sicarii, 
and so led the defence of Masada in 73 (ii. Wars, xvii. 9; vii. ib. viii. 1). 
Cf. Schiirer, Hist. Div. 1. vol. 1. p. 81, n. 129. John of Gischala, a very 
passionate patriot (Josephus, Life, x., xiii. , etc. ; ii. Wars, xxi. 1, 2, etc.). 
Cf. the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices (Luke 
xiii. 1). 

1 Luke ix. 54. Cf. Jos. xx. Antt. vi. 1. 2 Judges v. 18. 

1 iii. Wars, iii. 2. 4 Quoted by Neubauer, Giog. du Talm. iSt. 



Galilee 



423 



I. It is often taken for granted that the Galilee of our 
Lord's day was a new land with an illegitimate people- 
without history, without traditions, without L Galilee- 
prophetic succession. The notion is inspired Hol y Land - 
by such proverbs as, Search and see, for out of Galilee 
cometh no prophet. Can any good come out of Nazareth f 
But these utterances were due to the spitfire pride of 
Judsea, that had contempt for the coarse dialect of the 
Galileans, 1 and for their intercourse with the heathen. 
The province, it is true, had been under the Law for only 
a little more than a century. 2 Her customs and laws, 
even on such important matters as marriage and inter- 
course with the heathen, her coins and weights, her dialect, 
were all sufficiently different from those of Judsea to excite 
popular sentiment in the latter, and provide the scribes 
with some quotable reasons for their hostility. Do we 
desire a modern analogy for the difference between Judsea 
and Galilee in the time of our Lord, we shall find one in 
the differences between England and Scotland soon after 
the Union. But then Galilee had as much reason to 
resent the scorn of Judaea as Scotland the haughty toler- 
ance of England. Behind the Exile, Galilee had tradi- 
tions, a prophetic succession, and a history almost as 
splendid as Judah's own. She was not out of the way 
of the great scenes of famous days. Carmel, Kishon, 
Megiddo, Jezreel, Gilboa, Shunem, Tabor, Gilead, Bashan, 
the waters of Merom, Hazor and Kadesh, were all within 
touch or sight. She shared with Judaea even the exploits 
of the Maccabees. By Gennesaret was Jonathan's march, 
by Merom the scene of his heroic rally, when his forces 
were in flight, and of his great victory ; on the other side, 

1 The Galileans confounded the guttural*. 1 See p. 414. 



424 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



at Ptolemais, was his treacherous capture, the beginning 
of his martyrdom. 1 Galilee, therefore, lived as openly as 
Judaea in face of the glories of their people. Her latent 
fires had everywhere visible provocation. The foot of the 
invader could tread no league of her soil without starting 
the voices of fathers who had laboured and fought for her 
— without rewaking promises which the greatest prophets 
had lavished upon her future. As in the former time he 
brought into contempt the land of Zebulun, and the land oj 
Naphtali, so in the latter time hath he made them glorious, 
the way of the sea, across Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. 
The people which walked in darkness have seen a great 
light; dwellers in the land of darkness, on them hath the 
light shined. 

It is not necessary to enlarge upon the preparation 
which all this must have effected for the ministry of our 
^ord. That the Messianic tempers were stronger in 
Galilean than in any other Jewish hearts is most cer- 
tain. 2 While Judaea's religion had for its characteristic 
zeal for the law, Galilee's was distinguished by the nobler, 
the more potential passion of hope. Therefore it was to 
Galilee that Jesus came preaching that the Kingdom of 
Heaven is at hand ; it was the Galilean patriotism which 
He chose to refine to diviner issues. 

But we usually overlook that Galilee was vindicated also 
in the affections of the Jews themselves. It is one of the 
The Jewish most singular revolutions, even in Jewish his- 
Renascence. tory, that the province, which through so many 
centuries Judaea had contemned as profane and heretical, 

1 1 Mace, ix., xi., xii. 

* See p. 421 f., on the number of Galilean leaders in the revolt against 
Rome. 



Galilee 



425 



should succeed Judaea as the sanctuary of the race and 
the home of their theological schools — that to-day Galilee 
should have as many holy places as Judaea, and Safed and 
Tiberias be reverenced along with Hebron and Jerusalem. 
The transference can be traced geographically, by the 
movements of the Sanhedrim. After the defeat of the last 
Jewish revolt at Bettir (134 A.D.), the Sanhedrim migrated 
north from Jabneh in the Philistine plain to Oshah just 
north of Carmel, and thence gradually eastward across 
Lower Galilee to Shaphram, to Beth She'arim, to Sep- 
phoris — nay, to the unclean and cursed Tiberias itself. 
Here the last Sanhedrim sat, and the Mishna was edited. 
You see the tomb of Maimonides in Tiberias, and most of 
the towns of Lower and some of those of Upper Galilee 
have a name as the scenes of the residence or of the 
martyrdom of famous Rabbis. It is curious to observe in 
the Talmuds the reflection of a state of society in Galilee 
of the third century more strict in many respects than 
that of Judaea. But, in the history of Israel, the last is 
ever becoming the first. 1 

II. The next great features of Galilee are her Roads. 
This garden of the Lord is crossed by many of the world's 
most famous highways. We saw that Judaea n The roads 
was on the road to nowhere ; Galilee is of Galilee - 
covered with roads to everywhere — roads from the har- 
bours of the Phoenician coast to Samaria, Gilead, Hauran 

1 For the above details, see Neubauer, Giog.du Talmud, 177-233. A most 
valuable picture of Galilee, but it draws too much on the Talmud's picture of 
Galilee for illustration of the very different state of affairs in our Lord's time. 
The towns mentioned above will all be found on the map of the F.E.F. 
Osha is Kurbet Husheh, Shaphram Shefa 'Amr, only two miles away. Beth 
She'arim has not been identified. 



426 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



and Damascus ; roads from Sharon to the valley of 
the Jordan ; roads from the sea to the desert ; roads 
from Egypt to Assyria. They were not confined to 
Esdraelon and the Jordan Valley. They ran over Lower 
Galilee by its long parallel valleys, and even crossed the 
high plateau of Upper Galilee on the shortest direction 
from Tyre and Sidon to Damascus. A review of these 
highways will immensely enhance our appreciation of 
Galilee's history. They can be traced by the current 
lines of traffic, by the great khans or caravanserais which 
still exist in use or in ruin, and by the remains of Roman 
pavements. 

From the earliest times to the present a great thorough- 
fare has connected Damascus with the sea. Its direction 
has varied from age to age according to poli- 

Their routes. . , . ^ _ ° 

tical circumstances. The port of Damascus 
was sometimes Tripoli, sometimes Beyrout, sometimes 
Sidon or Tyre, sometimes Acca with Haifa. But between 
Damascus and the three first of these rises the double 
range of Lebanon ; the roads have twice over to climb 
many thousands of feet. 1 To Tyre again the road must 
first compass Hermon to Banias or Hasbeya, and then 
cross the heights of Naphtali. 2 Acca alone is the natural 
port for Damascus, and the nearest ways to Acca run 
through Lower Galilee. Leaving Damascus, the highway 

1 The road from Damascus to Tripoli went via Baalbek and B'sherreh ; that 
to Beyrout by the present diligence route ; that to Sidon went from Rama, 
past the present Kula'at esh Shukif, the Crusading castle of Belfort. 

8 After Banias the road traverses the Jordan Valley by Tell el Kady, 
passes the Hasbany branch by an old bridge ; thence over the first watershed 
to the north of Rubb Thelathin, through the valley near Abrikha, where 
there are remains of pavement, and over the second watershed by Burj 
Alawei to Tyre. It is commanded by two Crusading castles — Hunin, at a 
distance of two miles, Tibnin at more. 



Galilee 



427 



kept to the south of Hermon upon the level region now 
called Jedur, 1 and crossed the Jordan midway between the 
Lakes of Merom and Gennesaret at the present Bridge of 
the Daughters of Jacob. Thence it climbed to the Khan, 
now called 1 of the Pit of Joseph,' and divided. One 
branch held west past Safed, by the line of valley between 
Lower and Upper Galilee, and came down by the present 
Wady Waziyeh upon Acca. 2 Another branch went south 
to the Lake of Gennesaret at Khan Minyeh — one of the 
possible sites for Capernaum — and there forked again. 
One prong bent up the Plain of Gennesaret and the 
present Wady Rubadiyeh to rejoin the direct western 
branch at Rameh. Another left the Plain of Gennesaret 
up the famous Wady el Hamam by Arbela 3 to the plateau 
above Tiberias, and thence passing the great Khan or 
market, now called et Tujjar, 'of the merchants,' defiled 
between Tabor and the Nazareth hills upon Esdraelon, 
which it crossed to Megiddo, on the way to Sharon, to 
Philistia, to Egypt. A third branch from Khan Minyeh 
continued due south by the Lake and Tiberias to Beth- 
shan, from which the traveller might either ascend 
Esdraelon and rejoin the straight route to Egypt, or go 
up through Samaria to Jerusalem, or down Jordan to 
Jericho. But at Bethshan, or a little to the north of 
it, there came across Jordan another great road from 
Damascus. It had traversed the level Hauran, and come 
down into the valley of the Jordan, by Aphek 4 or by 
Gamala, and it went over to the Mediterranean either by 
Bethshan and Esdraelon or up the Wady Fejjas to the 

1 By S'asa and el Kuneitra. 

2 Schumacher, P.E.F.Q., 1889, pp. 79, 80. 

s Modern Irbid. See I Mace, ix., Hosea x. 14. 
* The present Fik, opposite Tiberias. 



428 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



plateau above the Lake, and thence by the cross valley 
past Cana and Sepphoris to Acca. This was also the way 
over Galilee from Gilead and the Decapolis. 1 

The Great West Road from Damascus to the Mediter- 
ranean, in one or other of its branches, was the famous 
The Way of Way of tJie Sea. It may have been so called 
the Sea. foy i sa j a h w hen he heard along it the grievous 
march of the Assyrian armies, by way of the sea, over 
Jordan, Galilee of the nations. But we cannot be certain, 
for the phrase is ambiguous in both its terms ; we do not 
know whether the sea is Gennesaret or the Mediterranean, 
and whether the way be really a road or only a direction. 
If the two latter alternatives be taken, the phrase means 
no more than westward — a rendering suitable to the 
context. 2 However this be, later generations applied 

1 In Roman times there were two bridges, one just below the lake, the 
other the present Jisr el-Mujamia. The route — Damascus, Nawa, Beth- 
shan, and Esdraelon — is the line of the new Damascus Haifa railway. It 
crosses the Jordan just below the Lake. See Maps I. and VI. 

2 Isa. viii. 22 (Eng. version ix. 1) DJfl :JTI The Way of the Sea. (i) 

The usual interpretation is that Gennesaret is meant (JV}33~D^, Num. xxxiv. 
II), and the way of the sea, along with the following words fTVn "Qy> 
over Jordan, is taken to mean a district to the east of the Lake of Galilee. 
But the tribes mentioned — Zebulun and Naphtali — had their territories to the 
west of Jordan ; and ftTH 12V is applicable to either side of the river. The 

march of the Assyrians, which is here described, swept westward. But (2) 
does way mean an actual highway? I am inclined to think that it means no 
more than direction, and that we ought to take D*H, or sea, in its general 

sense of the West, so that the phrase in analogy to HJiBV Tpl (Ezek. viii. 5, 
xxi. 2, xl. 6) would mean simply westward. In that case it would be equiva- 
lent to the phrase fits)) ITWl "W2 (Josh. v. 1, etc.) across the Jordan 
westwards. It is true, however, that in these last cases the particle of direc- 
tion towards is used ; whereas in our verse sea is used in the genitive case 
with the definite article, a construction that would point to its being the title 
of a real road rather than the description of a direction. Yet not necessarily 
bo, for D'H (with the article) in the sense of the west also occurs, Josh. xix. II, 



Galilee 



429 



Isaiah's words to the great caravan route between 
Damascus and the sea, and throughout the Middle Ages 
it was known as the ' Via Maris/ The Romans paved it, 
and took taxes from its traffic ; at one of its tolls, in 
Capernaum, Matthew sat at the receipt of custom} It was 
then the great route of trade with the Far East, and 
it continued to be so. From the eleventh to the four- 
teenth centuries the products of India coming from the 
Persian Gulf by Baghdad and Damascus were carried along 
it to the factories of Venice, Genoa, and Marseilles in Acca 
and Tyre, and thence distributed through Europe. 2 The 
commerce of Damascus has at present an easier way to 
Beyrout by the splendid Alpine road which the French 
engineers built across the Lebanons ; but the Via Maris is 
still used for the considerable exports on camel-back of 
grain from Hauran. 3 

The Great South Road, the road for Egypt, which 
diverged from the Via Maris at the Lake of Galilee, was 
used equally for traffic and for war from the The Great 
days of the patriarchs down to our own. One South Road - 
afternoon in 1891, while we were resting in the dale at the 
foot of Tabor, there passed three great droves of unladen 
camels. We asked the drivers, ' Where from ? ' 1 Damas- 
cus.' 'And where are you going?' 'Jaffa and Gaza; 
but, if we do not get the camels sold there, we shall drive 

Ezek. xlii. 19. But if a definite sea be meant, then k is more probable that 
the Mediterranean — the goal of the road — would give its name to the latter, 
than that the Lake of Gennesaret, along which only one of the road's 
branches passed, would do so. 1 Mark ii. 14. 

2 Rey, Les Colonies Franquts de Syrie au xii eme et xiii eme sik/es f 
ch. iii., Les Communes Commercialese and ch. ix. La Commerce. Heyd, 
Die Italienischen Handels-colonien in Paldstina. See above, p. 18. 

8 In harvest the passage of camels across the Jisr-Benat-Jakoob never 
ceases. 



430 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



them down to Egypt.' How ancient a succession these 
men were following ! From Abraham's time, every year 
that war was not afoot, camels have passed by this road 
to Egypt. Armies sometimes marched along it, as, for 
instance, the Syrians when Jonathan Maccabeus went out 
against them in the defiles by Arbela above Gennesaret. 1 
But the open road by Hauran and across the Jordan 
below the Lake seems to have been the more usual line 
of invasion. So the Syrians came in Ahab's time, 2 and 
probably also the Assyrians when they advanced by 
Damascus. 

The Great Road of the East (as we may call it) from 
Acre across Lower Galilee to Bethshan, and over the 

The Great Jordan into Gilead, was the road for Arabia. 

East Road. Tj p ft have come through all ages the Midian- 
ites, the children of the East. In the Roman period it 
connected the Asian frontier of the Empire with the 
capital. Chariots, military troops, companies of officials 
and merchants, passed by this road, between the Greek 
cities east of Jordan, and Ptolemais, the port for Rome. 

Of all things in Galilee it was the sight of these imme- 
morial roads which taught and moved me most — not 
because they were trodden by the patriarchs, 

These roads J 

and the Para- and some of them must soon shake to the 

bles of Jesus. . i ' « * * . 

railway train, not because the chariots of As- 
syria and Rome have both rolled along them — but because 
it was up and down these roads that the immortal figures 
of the Parables passed. By them came the merchantman 
seeking goodly pearls, the king departing to receive his 
kingdom, the friend on a journey, the householder arriving 

i I Mace. ix. 2. So also came some of Saladin's army, in 1 187, to th< 
Battle of Hattin. 2 1 Kings xx., xxii. 



Galilee 431 

suddenly upon his servants, the prodigal son coming back 
from the far-off country. The far-off country ! What a 
meaning has this frequent phrase of Christ's, when you 
stand in Galilee by one of her great roads — roads which 
so easily carried willing feet from the pious homes of Asher 
and Naphtali to the harlot cities of Phoenicia — roads which 
were in touch with Rome and with Babylon. 

III. Her roads carry ns out upon the surroundings 
of Galilee. In the neighbourhood of Judaea we have 
seen great deserts, some of which come up 

... . HI. TheEn- 

almost to the gates of the cities, and have 1m- vironmentof 
pressed their austerity and foreboding of judg- 
ment upon the feelings and the literature of the people. 
The very different temperament of the Galilean was 
explained in part by his very different environment. The 
desert is nowhere even visible from Galilee. Instead of 
it, the Galilee of our Lord's time had for neighbours the 
half Greek land of Phoenicia, with its mines and manu- 
factures, its open ports, its traffic from the West ; the 
fertile Hauran, 1 with its frequent cities, where the Greek 
language was spoken, and the pagan people worshipped 
their old divinities under the names of the Greek gods ; 
and Gilead, with the Decapolis, ten cities (more or less) of 
stately forums, amphitheatres, and temples. 2 We shall feel 
the full influence of all this upon Galilee when we go down 
to the Lake. Meantime let us remember that Galilee was 
not surrounded by desert places haunted by demoniacs, 
which is all that the few traces in the Gospels suggest to 
our imagination ; but that the background and environ- 
ment of this stage of our Lord's ministry was thronged and 

1 The ancient Auranitis See ch. xxix, 2 See ch. xxviii. 



432 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



very gay— that it was Greek in all that the name can 
bring up to us of busy life, imposing art and sensuous 
religion. The effect upon the Galilean temperament is 
obvious. 

These then are the influences which geography reveals 
bearing upon Galilee. Before we go down to the Lake, 
let us focus them upon the one town away from the Lake, 
which is of supreme interest to us — Nazareth. 1 

Nazareth is usually represented as a secluded and an 
obscure village. Many writers on the life of our Lord have 
emphasised this, holding it proved by the 
silence of the Gospels concerning His child- 
hood and youth. But the value of a vision of the Holy 
Land is that it fills the silences of the Holy Book, and 
from it we receive a very different idea of the early life of 
our Lord from the one generally current among us. 2 

The position of Nazareth is familiar to all. The village 
lies on the most southern of the ranges of Lower Galilee, 
and on the edge of this just above the Plain of Esdraelon. 

1 On Nazareth, see Guerin's Galilee ; Merrill, op. cit. ; Conder's Teni 
Worky ch. v. ; Schumacher, Dasjetzige Nazareth, Z.D.P. V. xiii. 234. The 
population is now 7500. Some travellers have found them turbulent. 
Schumacher calls them pleasant and hospitable. They form a ' Sprachinsel 
in gewissem Sinne ; ' for while the surrounding towns either pronounce q 
(k) fully or miss it, the Nazareth people pronounce it as k : u they pronounce 
w, as in Turkish. There is a want of water, the well of Mary being the only 
well. There is a market for the neighbourhood. 

3 It is a great merit of Dr. Merrill's monograph on Galilee, that it has dia- 
proved this error in detail. See also a very striking passage on Galilee in 
Mr. Walter Besant's Lecture on the Work of the Pal. Expl. Fund, in The 
City and the Land, 114 f. : c Palestine was not an obscure country . , , He 
who wandered among the hills and valley of Galilee was never far from some 
great and populous city . . . It was not as a rustic preaching to rustics that our 
Lord went about . . . He went forth in a part [of the Roman Empire] full of 
Roman civilisation, busy and populous, where, at every turn, He would meet 
with something to mark the empire to which He belonged.' 



Galilee 



433 



You cannot see from Nazareth the surrounding country, 
for Nazareth rests in a basin among hills ; but the moment 
you climb to the edge of this basin, which is everywhere 
within the limit of the village boys' playground, what a 
view you have ! Esdraelon lies before you, with its twenty 
battle-fields — the scenes of Barak's and of Gideon's vic- 
tories, the scenes of Saul's and Josiah's defeats, the scenes 
of the struggles for freedom in the glorious days of the 
Maccabees. There is Naboth's vineyard and the place of 
Jehu's revenge upon Jezebel ; there Shunem and the house 
of Elisha ; there Carmel and the place of Elijah's sacrifice. 
To the east the Valley of Jordan, with the long range of 
Gilead ; to the west the radiance of the Great Sea, with 
the ships of Tarshish and the promise of the Isles. You 
see thirty miles in three directions. It is a map of Old 
Testament history. 

But equally full and rich was the present life on which 
the eyes of the boy Jesus looked out. Across Esdraelon, 
opposite to Nazareth, there emerged from The boyhood 
the Samarian hills the road from Jerusalem, of Jesus, 
thronged annually with pilgrims, and the road from Egypt 
with its merchants going up and down. The Midianite 
caravans could be watched for miles coming up from the 
fords of Jordan ; and, as we have seen, the caravans from 
Damascus wound round the foot of the hill on which 
Nazareth stands. Or if the village boys climbed the 
northern edge of their hollow home, there was another 
road within sight, where the companies were still more 
brilliant — the highway between Acre and the Deca- 
polis, along which legions marched, and princes swept 
with their retinues, and all sorts of travellers from all 
countries went to and fro. The Roman ranks, the Roman 

2 E 



434 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



eagles, the wealth of noblemen's litters and equipages 
cannot have been strange to the eyes of the boys of 
Nazareth, especially after their twelfth year, when they 
went up to Jerusalem, or visited with their fathers famous 
Rabbis, who came down from Jerusalem, peripatetic among 
the provinces. Nor can it have been the eye only which 
was stirred. For all the rumour of the Empire entered 
Palestine close to Nazareth — the news from Rome, about 
the Emperor's health, 1 about the changing influence of the 
great statesmen, about the prospects at court of Herod, 
or of the Jews ; about Caesar's last order concerning the 
tribute, or whether the policy of the Procurator would be 
sustained. Many Galilean families must have had relatives 
in Rome ; Jews would come back to this countryside to 
tell of the life of the world's capital. Moreover, the 
scandals of the Herods buzzed up and down these roads ; 
pedlars carried them, and the peripatetic Rabbis would 
moralise upon them. The customs, too, of the neigh- 
bouring Gentiles — their loose living, their sensuous wor- 
ship, their absorption in business, 2 the hopelessness of the 
inscriptions on their tombs, multitudes of which were 
readable (as some are still) on the roads round Galilee 
— all this would furnish endless talk in Nazareth, both 
among men and boys. 

Here, then, He grew up and suffered temptation, Who 
was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. 
The perfection of His purity and patience was achieved 
not easily as behind a wide fence which shut the world 
out, but amid rumour and scandal with every provocation 
to unlawful curiosity and premature ambition. The pres- 

1 As in the days when Vespasian was encamped in Galilee. See both 
Josephus and Tacitus on this. 1 Matt. vi. 32. 



Galilee 



435 



sure and problems of the world outside God's people must 
have been felt by the youth of Nazareth as by few others ; 
yet the scenes of prophetic missions to it — Elijah's and 
Elisha's — were also within sight. 1 A vision of all the 
kingdoms of tne world was as possible from this village 
as from the mount of temptation. But the chief lesson 
which Nazareth teaches to us is the possibility of a pure 
home and a spotless youth in the very face of the evil 
world. 



1 Lake ir. 2$ ff. 



CHAPTER XXI 
THE LAKE OF GALILEE 



For tnis Chapter consult Map l. t TIL and VI. 



THE LAKE OF GALILEE 



IN last chapter the dominant features of Galilee were 
shown to be seven. First, a close dependence on 
Lebanon. Second, an abundance of water, 

1 • , T 1 , • 1 11 • • SeVen 

which Lebanon lavishes on her by rain, mists, features of 

Galilee 

wells, and full-born streams. Third, a great 
fertility : profusion of flowers, corn, oil and wood. Fourth, 
volcanic elements : extinct craters, dykes of basalt, hot 
springs, liability to earthquakes. Fifth, great roads : high- 
ways of the world cross Galilee in all directions — from 
the Levant to Damascus and the East, from Jerusalem to 
Antioch, from the Nile to the Euphrates. Sixth, in result 
of the fertility and of the roads, busy industries and com- 
merce, with a crowded population. And seventh, the 
absence of a neighbouring desert, such as infects Judaea 
with austerity, but in its place a number of heathen 
provinces, pouring upon Galilee the full influence of thefr 
Greek life. 

Now all these seven features of Galilee in general were 
concentrated upon her lake and its coasts. The Lake of 
Galilee was the focus of the whole province. The Lak 
Imagine that wealth of water, that fertility, the focus - 
those nerves and veins of the volcano, those great highways, 
that numerous population, that commerce and industry, 
those strong Greek in^uences — imagine them all crowded 



44-0 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 

into a deep valley, under an almost tropical heat, and 
round a great blue lake, and you have before you the 
conditions in which Christianity arose and Christ Himself 
chiefly laboured. 

We do not realise that the greater part of our Lord's 
ministry was accomplished at what may be truly called the 
bottom of a trench, 680 feet below the level of the sea. As 
you go down into it by the road which our Lord Himself 
traversed between Nazareth and Capernaum, there come 
up to meet you some signals of its wonderful peculiarity. 
By two broad moors, 1 the grey limestone land falls from 
the ranges of Lower Galilee to a line of cliffs overlooking 
The way *he ^ a ^ e > anc * about 300 feet above it. These 
down. terraced moors are broken by dykes of basalt; 
and strewn with lava and pumice-stone. There are hardly 
any trees upon them ; after rain the shadeless streams 
soon die, and the summer grass and bush crackle to tinder. 
The memories of these moors match their appearance ; his- 
tory and legend know them only as the scenes of flight and 
thirst and exhaustion. Across their southern end Sisera 
fled headlong, and sought drink for his parched throat in 
the tent of Jael. 2 By the aspect of the northern end, the 
imagination of the early Church was provoked to fix upon 
it as the desert place where, when the day was far spent 
and the exhausted multitudes at some distance from their 
villages, our Lord brought forth a miracle to feed them. 3 
And there, in Crusading times, the courage of Christendom 
was scorched to the heart, so as never to rally in all the 
East again. Where the heights of Hattm offer neither 

1 Now the plateau of Sha'ara and the Sahel el-Ahma. 
* See p. 395. 

3 Beyond the sterile aspect of the place, there is nothing to justify this 
tradition. 



The Lake of Galilee 



441 



shade nor springs, the Crusaders, tempted, it is said, by 
some treachery, came forth to meet Saladin. A hot July 
night without water was followed by a burning 

b The Battle 

day, 1 to add to the horrors of which the enemy of Hatttn— 
set fire to the scrub. The smoke swept the 1187 A,D ' 
fevered Christians into a panic ; knights choked in their 
hot armour ; the blinded foot-soldiers, breaking their ranks 
and dropping their weapons, were ridden down in mobs by 
the Moslem cavalry ; and though here and there groups of 
brave men fought sun and fire and sword far on into the 
terrible afternoon, the defeat was utter. A militant and 
truculent Christianity, as false as the relics of the ' True 
Cross' round which it was rallied, met its judicial end 
within view of the scenes where Christ proclaimed the 
Gospel of Peace, and went about doing good. 

Through such memories, enforcing the effect of the arid 
landscape, you descend from the hills of Galilee to her 
lake. You feel you are passing from the 

r , _ Atmosphere 

climate and scenery of Southern Europe to the of the Lake 
climate and scenery of the barer tropics. The 
sea-winds, which freshen all Galilee and high Hauran 
beyond, blow over this basin, and the sun beats into it 
with unmitigated ardour. 2 The atmosphere, for the most 
part, hangs still and heavy, but the cold currents, as they 
pass from the west, are sucked down in vortices of air, or 

1 5th July 1 187. The battle is described from the Crusading side by 
Bernard the Treasurer ; from the Saracen by Boha-ed-Din {Life of Saladin, 
ch. xxxv.). Robinson, B.R. iii. 245-249, gives an admirable summary of 
these accounts. 

2 Detailed statistics of the meteorology of the Lake of Galilee are unknown 
to me. For scattered notes of the temperature, winds and storms, see 
Robinson, B.R. iii.; Merrill, East of Jordan; Frei, Z.D.P.V. ix. 100 f; 
Tristram's various writings ; Macgregor, Rob Roy on the Jordan, etc. See 
below, p. 449 f. 



442 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



by the narrow gorges that break upon the lake. Then 
arise those sudden storms for which the region is noto- 
rious — 

' The wind, the tempest roaring high, 
The tumult of a tropic sky.' 

In such conditions a large population and all industry 
would have been as- impossible as at the other end of the 
The functions Jordan, but for two redeeming features — the 
of tbc Luke. | a ^ e itself and the wealth of fountains and 
streams which feed it from Lebanon. In that torrid basin, 
approached through such sterile surroundings, the lake 
feeds every sense of the body with life. Sweet water, 1 
full of fish, 2 a surface of sparkling blue, tempting down 
breezes from above, bringing forth breezes of her own, the 
Lake of Galilee is at once food, drink and air, a rest to the 
eye, coolness in the heat, an escape from the crowd, 3 and a 
facility of travel very welcome in so exhausting a climate. 
Even those who do not share her memories of Christ feel 
enthusiasm for her. The Rabbis said: 'Jehovah hath 
created seven seas, but the Sea of Gennesaret is His 
delight.' 

The lake lies, in shape, like a harp, with the bulge to 
the north-west. It is nearly thirteen miles long, 4 and its 
greatest breadth is eight. 5 The wider northern end is the 

1 Some travellers have found in the water 'a slight brackish taste' (so 
Robinson's companions, but not Robinson himself, B.R. iii. 261). But this 
approaches unpleasantness only in the shallow waters near the larger saline 
springs. Elsewhere the words of Josephus, iii. Wars, x. 7, are not exag- 
gerated, yXvueia re 6fiw iarl Kal iroTificordTrj. 

2 See p. 462. 3 Mark vi. 32, etc. 

4 On the large Survey Map, from the influx of Jordan to the village of 
Semakh. 

5 The greatest depth is 250 metres at the northern end. Lortet, Dragages 
executets dans le Lac de Tibiriade en Mai, 1880; Comptes Rendus Hebdom. 
des seances de l'Academie de? Sciences, Tome xci., Paris, 1880, pp. 500-502 



The Lake of Galilee 



443 



more open. The Jordan, escaped from a long gorge, 
enters quietly through a delta of his own deposits. To 
the west of this delta is thorny, thistly moor- 

The shape 

land, sloping northwards to a height which of the Lake 
leaves over it only Hermon visible, though the 
basin of Merom lies between. North-west this moorland 
steepens, rising to the bulk of the hills about Safed, and 
then, as the coast of the lake trends more rapidly south- 
wards, it drops upon the level Ghuweir — or ' little Ghor ' — 
almost certainly the land of Gennesaret, which is four miles 
broad. 1 South of the Ghuweir the hills close in upon the 
lake, with a valley breaking through them from the plateau 
above. South of this valley they leave but a ribbon of 
coast, along part of which Tiberias lies, commanded by its 
black castle. In contrast to the green open slopes of the 
north, these dark, imprisoning cliffs, with their black debris, 

Lortet thinks that the Lake of Galilee was once connected with the Mediter- 
ranean. But this has been disproved by Hull. See p. 470. On the peculiai 
fishes of the lake, see Tristram, and Merrill, East of the Jordan, p. 441. 

1 Gennesaret Tevwrjaapir, the Land of Gennesaret, Matt. xiv. 34 ; Mark 
vi. 53, Lake of Gennesaret, Luke v. 1. The earliest use of the name is in 
I Mace. xi. 67, T6 vdcvp Tevpyadp (in the same verse, for Na<ro>/) read 'Aaup= 
Hazor, cf. Josephus, xiii. Antt. v. 7). Josephus gives Yew-qaip, Y. Xlfivrj, or 
Vdup and t\ Yew yea pins. The later Hebrew (Targums and Talmud) give 
WJJi and The Targums identify the name with the Chin- 

nereth of the Old Testament (mH3, Deut. iii. 17; mU3> Josh. xix. 35; 
fii"03> Josh. xi. 2; ]"n33-^3> 1 Kings xv. 20), which is applied both to the 

• : . t 

lake and a town on the lake, while in the last passage it perhaps covers the 
whole of the northern Jordan Valley. Scholars have accepted this identi- 
fication (Dillmann on Josh. xix. 35; the P.E.F. Map, Ed. 1891, etc.), but 
it is improbable. The LXX. transliterate DUD by x ej/6 P e # a nd x €J/e P u ^- 
Even this can scarcely have been Yew-neap, "ID'OJ, or "1D*0 S J. The latter 
form points rather to a compound of or jl- Chinnereth has been derived 
from TOD, 'harp,' as if through the shape of the lake. Talm. Bab. Meg. 6a : 
'Chinnereth, i.e. Genesar, and wherefore is it called Chinnereth? Because 
its fruit is sweet like the artichoke, ' (not as Neub., Geog. du Tait/u 

215, ' sweet as voice of a harp '). 



444 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



impose upon this part of the coast a sombre and sinister 
aspect, not unsuited for its association with the name of 
the gloomy tyrant, that, by a strange irony of fate, has 
been stamped on a landscape from which the name of 
Jesus has altogether vanished. 1 As the south end of the 
lake approaches, the ribbon of coast widens, and the Jordan 
cuts through it, striking at first due west, and then south 
by the foot of the hills. Four miles broad, the Jordan 
Valley leaves a wide prospect from the lake southward, 
that is closed only by the cliffs of the gorge to which it 
narrows twenty miles away. From the east the Yarmuk 
Valley breaks in just below the lake, distending the Ghor 
to the dimensions of a great plain ; and to the south of 
the Yarmuk rise the heights of Gadara, commanding this 
plain, and looking up the lake to Tiberias and the north 
end. From the Yarmuk northwards up all the eastern 
side of the lake runs a wall of hills, the edge of the plateau 
of Jaulan 2 or Gaulanitis. This is a limestone plateau, but 
topped by a vast layer of basalt. You see the curious 
formation as you ascend the gorges which lead upwards 
from the lake, for first you pass the dirty whije lime strata, 
and then the hard black rocks of the volcanic deposit 
Some of the gorges — like that of Fik, opposite Tiberias, 
where Hippos stood — are open and gradual enough to 
have been easily used as high-roads in all ages ; but others 
farther north are wild and impassable. 8 The wall which 

1 Lamartine {Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Eng. Ed. i. 269) speaks of 
* avalanches of black stones,' the 1 black, naked hill,' * the sombre and funereal 
character of the landscape about Tiberias.' 

a The Hebrew f^, or Golan, is in classic Arabic pronounced Gaulan, but 

with the natives of the district it has shortened to the same first syllable as 
in Hebrew, though, of course, with soft g—g6, or jd. See Schumacher's 
The Jaulan. 

3 Like the Wady Jeramaya described in Schumacher's The Jaulan, 253. 



The Lake of Galilee 



445 



the plateau presents to the lake is higher and more 
constant than the hills down the western side, but it does 
not come so close to the beach. Except at Khersa, the 
eastern coast is about half a mile broad, well watered and 
fertile. 

The view which the whole basin presents has been 
likened to one of our Scottish lochs. This would need to 
be one of the least wooded. Few lochs in The aspect 
Scotland have surroundings so stripped of trees to ' da y- 
as those of the Lake of Galilee are to-day. Except for 
some palms lingering in Gennesaret, a scattering of thorn 
bushes all round the coast, brakes of oleander on the 
eastern shores, and small oaks up the gorges to the Jaulan 
plateau, trees are not to be seen. The mountain edges are 
bare, and so are the grey slopes to the north, lifted towards 
Hermon as a Scottish moor to a snowy Ben. Only one 
town is visible, Tiberias, now a poor fevered place of less 
than 5000 inhabitants ; besides this there are not more than 
three or four small villages round all the coast. There 
are no farmsteads, 1 or crofts, such as break the solitude 
of our most desolate Highland lochs. The lights which 
come out at night on shore and hill are the camp-fires of 
wandering Arabs. It is well known, too, how seldom a 
sail is seen on the surface of the Lake. 

How very different it was in the days when Jesus came 
down from Nazareth to find His home and His disciples 
upon these shores ! Where there are now no trees there 
were great woods ; where there are marshes, there were 
noble gardens ; where there is but a boat or two, there 
were fleets of sails ; where there is one town, there were 

1 Except those of the new German colony near 'Ain et Tabghah, whose red 
roofs indicate their western builders. 



446 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



nine or ten. We know this from Josephus, who fully 
describes the province he governed and fought over only 
thirty-four years after our Lord's ministry — too short a 
time for the country to have changed. 

The Plain of Gennesaret had 1 soil so fruitful, that all 
sorts of trees would grow upon it, for the temper of the air 
is so well blended, that it suits those many 

The Lake in ' J 

our Lord's sorts, especially walnuts, which require the 
colder air ' (that is relatively to the rest), ' and 
flourish there in great plenty. There are palm trees also, 
which grow best in hot air ; fig trees also and olives grow 
near them, which require an air more temperate.' This 
conjunction was due to the steep slope of the Galilean 
hills, which fall from as high as 4000 feet above the 
sea, north of Safed, to 680 below at Gennesaret. In the 
days of the pride of the land, what a plunge through 
nature it must have been, when one came down from oaks, 
through olives, sycomores and walnuts, to palms that had 
their roots washed by the Lake. ' One may call this place 
the ambition of Nature, where it forces those plants that 
are naturally enemies to one another to agree together : 
it is a happy contention of the seasons, as if each of them 
laid claim to this country, for it not only nourishes dif- 
ferent sorts of autumnal fruits beyond men's expectation, 
but preserves them a great while. It supplies men with 
the principal fruits — grapes and figs continually during 
ten months of the year, and the rest of the fruits, as they 
ripen together through the whole year.' 1 Even now one 
sees proof of that luxuriance in the few rich patches of 
garden upon Gennesaret, in the wealth of flowers on the 
surrounding slopes, and in the glory of maidenhair tern 

1 Josephus, iii. Wars t x. 8. 



The Lake of Galilee 



447 



that springs up wherever there is a stream to give it water 
and a ruin to give it shade. 1 About Tiberias, the land 
was probably as bare as now, but from the foot of the 
Lake to Bethshan was cultivated for wheat, and the in- 
coming valley from Tabor 2 still holds oleanders deep 
enough to cover a regiment of horse. The eastern plateau, 
bare to-day, was certainly well wooded down even to a 
recent time, for the place-names imply the presence of 
forest and copse, 3 while some of the wadies by which you 
descend to the Lake, have large oaks, terebinths, planes 
and carobs, and others are full of bush and brake. 4 

There were nine cities round the Lake, each said to have 
had not less than 1 5,000 inhabitants, and some probably 
with more. Of these the sites of Tiberias and m 

The cities 

Magdala on the western shore, and of Gadara round the 

Lake. 

and Hippos on the eastern hills are certain. 
Bethsaida and Capernaum were at the north end, though 
where exactly, who can tell ? Taricheae is still a matter of 
controversy, and so is Chorazin. But this we do know, 
that whatever be the sites to which these names were 
originally attached, their towns formed round the now 
bare Lake an almost unbroken ring of building. 

Tiberias is said to occupy the site or neighbourhood of 
Rakkath, an ancient town of Naphtali, 6 and as Rakkath 

1 The gardens about Irbid, on the plateau above the Lake, are beautiful. 
On the Wady el Hamam, which, true to its name, shelters numberless wild 
blue-grey doves, see Schumacher, Z.D.P. V. xiii. 67. 

2 Wady Fejjas. 8 Schumacher, The Jaulan, 15, 17, 22, 23. 

4 There were thick woods round the Lake even in Arculf s time, a.d. 700. 

6 Talm. Jer, Meg. 2b. But Talm. Bab. Meg. 6a gives other identifica- 
tions. When the foundations were being laid, quantities of human bones were 
discovered. The site, therefore, cannot have exactly coincided with that of 
an old town, but may have covered the cemetery adjoining this. Neubauer 
{Giog. du Talm. 209) quotes from Tal. Bab. Sank. 12 a proof that in the 
fourth century Tiberias was called Rakkath. 



44 8 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



probably means strip, or coast, this may be. The Herods 
did not raise their artificial cities from virgin sites, but 
generally rebuilt some old town. Why Herod 

Tiberias. .... 

chose this site is very clear. There would 
have been great difficulty in adapting to his designs for a 
capital, towns so full of commerce as Taricheae and Caper- 
naum ; he must have preferred a site dominated by a hill, 
where he could build a castle, yet be near the shore, and 
no doubt he found an advantage, perhaps a pecuniary one, 
in the neighbourhood of the Baths, then famous throughout 
the Roman world. 1 In what year the building was begun 
or finished, is uncertain, but at the earliest not more than 
five or six years before our Lord began His ministry on the 
Lake. 2 Herod's plans were large. Ruins still indicate a 
wall three miles long. 3 

1 Cf. Pliny, H.N. v. 15, 'Tiberiade aquis calidis salubre.' 

a Or from 20-22 A.D. But Lewin, Fasti Sacri, n. 1163, and Schurer (Hist. 
Div. II. vol. i. 144) fix on 26 A. d. on the ground that Josephus does not men- 
tion the building of Tiberias till after the accession of Pilate to the Procurator- 
ship of Judaea (xviii. Antt. ii., cf. 3 with 2). This, however, is too late, for 

(a) a coin of Tiberias under the Emperor Claudius (De Saulcy, Numis. de la 
Terre Sainte, 334), is dated in the thirty-third year of the city, and Claudius 
died in 54 ; if this coin be really of Claudius, then it drives us back to 21 ; 

(b) two coins of Tiberias under Trajan (Ibid. 335) bear 80 and 81 of the city : 
as he began to reign in 98 they forbid us going further back than 18 A.D. ; 

(c) but on a third coin under Trajan (Ibid. 336, No. 4, PI. xvii.), with the 
date 81 of the city, the emperor is called only Gertnaniais, and not also 
Dacicus, which second title he won in 103 A.D. This gives us 22 A.D. for an 
upper limit. The evidence of this coin is, of course, to be preferred to that 
of another (whetner we read TEPM or TEP . A) mentioned by Schurer, 145. 
These facts are surely stronger than the ambiguous evidence of Josephus, by 
which alone Schurer fixes the date as 26. The interest of the question, of 
course, lies in the fact that Tiberias is mentioned in no gospel but the Fourth. 

3 Schumacher's Survey in P.E.F.Q., 1887, 85 ff. The walls included the 
citadel of Herod, but not the baths, as Furrer maintains, Z.D.P. V. ii. 54 
Josephus' expression that the baths were kv Tifiepi&Si, life, 16 ; ii. Wars xxi. 6, 
must therefore be interpreted, as Schurer says, ' in the district of Tiberias.' 
According to xviii. Antt. ii. 3 ; iv. Wars, i. 3, the baths were outside the 
city, 'E/iftaoGj or 'AM/uaoOs = nnEn- 



The Lake of Galilee 



449 



Besides the imposing citadel there were a palace, a 
forum, and a great synagogue. 1 But the buildings were 
the best of the town. No true Jew would set foot 
on a site defiled at once by the bones which had been 
uncovered in digging the foundations, and by the great 
heathen images which stared down from the castle walls. 
Failing to get respectable citizens, Herod swept into his 
city the scum of the land. Non abfuerat omen : he had 
already called it after Tiberius. 

These things — that the city was so new, artificial and 
unclean — partly explain its absence from the records of 
Christ's ministry on the lake. Our Lord our Lord and 
avoided the half- Greek cities, and among Tlbenas - 
courtiers and officials He would have been less at home 
than He was among the common people of the country. 
But the surroundings of Tiberias, too, were repellent. 2 
The city, a long strip like its predecessor, the Ribbon, was 
drawn out on the narrowest part of the coast. The line of 
its volcanic environment was as of rusty mourning, and the 
atmosphere was more confined than on the north of the 
lake. The fresh westerly breezes which blow throughout 
the summer strike the lake well out upon its surface, and 
leave the air inshore below the cliffs stagnant and close. 3 
Tiberias is very feverish. Capernaum and Bethsaida must 
have been more healthy, and through them besides ran 

1 The palace was on the Acropolis, Jos. Life, 12, described by Schu- 
macher, P.E.F.Q. 1887, pp. 87 ff. Josephus destroyed it. The Forum was 
often used during Josephus' occupation of the city: lb. 17, etc. The syna- 
gogue or Jlpoaeuxq was a fjAyicrov ot^fxa, lb. 54. 

2 Schiirer is here quite incorrect : 1 the most beautiful spot in Galilee,' Hist. 
i. ii. 19 ; ' a beautiful and fertile district,' lb. ii. 143. 

* The Rev. W. Ewing, late of Tiberias, informs me that this is correct, 
Many travellers have noticed it : cf. Robinson, Macgregor, etc. Tiberias lies 
full in face of the hot south winds blowing up the Ghor, cf. Frei in Z.D.P. V. 
ix. 100 f. 

2 F 



450 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



the greatest of the Galilean thoroughfares, the Via Maris, 
pouring a steady stream of busy life. Life, both physical 
and mental, was more in current in the cities of our Lord's 
choice than in that of Herod's. Nevertheless, while Beth- 
saida and Capernaum have passed away, Tiberias endures ; 
and the name of the morbid tyrant still stamps a region 
from which that of Jesus has vanished. The obvious 
reason is the black acropolis above Tiberias. 1 Capernaum, 
where Matthew sat at custom, depended on the great road, 
and faded when commerce took a new direction. But 
Tiberias, the only defensible site, being at once on the 
lake and on a hill, necessarily became the seat of the 
government of the province, which, in time of course, took 
from it its designation. That is why the name of the 
foreign emperor, first embalmed here in a most sordid 
flattery, is still buried in this obscurity and silence. But 
Christ went up these roads to rule the world. 

The Baths of Tiberias lie a mile from the south end of 
the ancient city wall. Amidst all the wreckage of fortune 
The Baths anc * of name with which this coast is strewn, 
of Tibenas. these springs, ministering to the changeless 
sorrows of humanity, have alone preserved their reputa- 
tion and their name. Hammath they were in the Old 
Testament, Emmaus when the Greeks came, and to-day 
Hummam. 2 Patients come to them from all parts of 
Syria, chiefly in June and July, when the neighbourhood 

1 When Saladin took Tiberias in 1187, the citadel did not yield to him till 
after the battle of Hattin. 

2 There are four springs with a temperature of about 144 : 'The deposit 
consists chiefly of carbonate of lime with a very small proportion of muriatic 
salts,' quoted by Robinson, B.R. iii. 259, 260. Merrill, East of Jordan, men- 
tions a cave filled with steam at a temperature of 86°, on the hill on which 
the castle stands. 



The Lake of Galilee 



451 



is crowded. Like all medicinal baths in the East, they 
heal also the feuds and quarrels of the population. The 
peninsula on which the baths of Gadara stand is, as we 
shall see, considered neutral ground by rival tribes around 
it. So was it wont to be here. When Josephus and John 
of Gischala divided Galilee into rival camps, the latter, 
pretending sickness, requested from Josephus a safe-con- 
duct that he might visit the baths at Emmaus, and it 
was granted to him. 1 It was no doubt the existence of 
these wells which reconciled the Jews to Tiberias, and 
changed that banned and cursed site into one of the four 
sacred cities of the Jews, with thirteen synagogues. The 
baths were famed across the whole ancient world. Pliny 
speaks of Tiberias ' calidis aquis salubris : ' 2 and on a coin 
of Tiberias under Trajan, there is a figure of Hygeia, feed- 
ing the serpent of Aesculapius, and sitting on a rock from 
beneath which breaks a spring. 3 Our Lord paid no visit 
to this spring as He did to the pool of Bethesda, but the 
patients that were brought to it from all parts of Syria 
doubtless swelled the great numbers who were laid at 
his feet. There are now in Tiberias, for His sake, a 
physician and a hospital, who enjoy the same oppor- 
tunities. 4 

Of equal importance with Tiberias was Taricheae, for 
according to Pliny, 5 in his day it gave its name to the 
whole lake; it had a large population in 52 B.C., when 
we first hear of it ; 6 it was a centre of industry and 

1 ii. Wars, xxi. 6. 2 H. N. v. 15. 

8 De Saulcy, Numis. de la Terrc Sainte, 335, Trajan, i, 2: Plate xvr 9 

4 The Medical Mission of the Free Church of Scotland under Dr. 
Torrance. 6 H.N. v. 15. 

6 xiv. Antt. vii. 3. Then Cassius visited it again in 43, writing to Cicero 
'ex castris Taricheis,' Cic. ad -^amiliarts xii. II. The next mention of it is 



452 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



commerce, and in Josephus' time a greater stronghold of 
Jewish patriotism than almost any other town in Galilee. 

But there is a great mystery about Taricheae. 

Taricheae. , ^ 

The name is neither mentioned in the Gospels 
nor found upon the lake to-day. Till some definite proof 
be discovered, the site will continue a matter 

Its position. . . 

of controversy, for the evidence we have is 
so balanced on either side that the leading authorities 
have changed their opinions more than once. 1 We have 
one certain datum, 2 that Taricheae was thirty stadia, or 
three and three quarter miles from Tiberias ; the question 
is, was it north or south of Tiberias, was it at Kerak at 
the issue of the Jordan from the lake, or at Mejdel on the 
Plain of Gennesaret ? Pliny says south, 3 but his evidence as 
to some other towns is not correct, and we cannot depend 
on him here. The classic passage is the description by 
Josephus of Vespasian's advance from Scythopolis on 

not till nearly a century after, when Nero gave it along with Tiberias to 
Agrippa II. (xx. Antt. viii. 4; ii. Wars, xiii. 2). 

1 The question of the site of Taricheae was discussed first by the officers 
of the English Survey: P.E.F.Q., 1877, 10 IT., Wilson, originally in favour 
of the southern site at Kerak, here fixes on Mejdel; 121, Kitchener fixes 
on Kh. el Kuneitriyeh, two miles north of Tiberias; 181, Conder quotes 
Pliny. In 1878, p. 79, H. K. K. ; 190 ff., Conder argues fully for Kerak. 
In Germany, Ebers and Guthe {Pdlastina i. 317 f. 501), and Socin {Badekcr's 
Guide, 1876) favour the northern site, Mejdel. A discussion continues 
through the Z.D.P.V. viii. 95, Spiers (Mejdel); ix. 104 ff. Frei (do.); 
x. 120, Jakob; xi. 216 ff., van Kasteren seeks to remove the objections to 
Kerak from Vespasian's advance on Tiberias, by taking the latter not along 
the coast, but by the plateau above; xii. 145 ff., Furrer argues at length 
against Kerak and for a northern site, both for Taricheae and the Emmaus of 
Vespasian's camp ; 178, Dechent, against this second Emmaus ; xiii. 140, 
Buhl, who answers objections to Kerak, and fixes Vespasian's camp at el 
Hummam ; 194, Furrer, who replies for Mejdel ; 281, Guthe, who sums up 
in favour of Kerak, thus changing from his former position. Schiirer {Hist. 
1. i. 224) also favours the southern site. 

* Josephus, Life, 32. * H.N. xv. 3. 



The Lake of Galilee 



453 



Tiberias first and then on Taricheae. It is argued that this 
proves Taricheae to the north of Tiberias,for Vespasian could 
scarcely have left it on his flank while attacking the latter, 
nor could the fugitives from Tiberias have fled, as they are 
described to have done, to Kerak, for that would have been 
in the face of the Romans' advance up the coast. Mejdel 
has, therefore, been fixed upon, and as Josephus tells us 
that Vespasian's camp lay between Tiberias and Taricheae 
at Emmaus, where there were hot springs, 1 these have been 
r ecognised in some wells two miles north of Tiberias, at 
the mouth of the Wady 'Amwas or 'Abu el 'Amis. 2 The 
advocates of Kerak maintain that Emmaus can only be 
the baths to the south of Tiberias, that the mention of a 
plain between Tiberias and Taricheae precludes Mejdel, 
while they seek to turn the objections to Kerak which rise 
from Vespasian's advance by understanding the latter to 
have taken place not along the coast past Kerak, but by 
the plateau above. To this statement of the discussion 
there are only three points to be added. Kerak is not 
overhung with hills from which arrows could be shot 
into it, as Josephus describes Taricheae to have been. 3 
Josephus, on one occasion, speaks of going to Arbela from 
Tiberias through Taricheae, 4 which implies that the latter 
lay north of Tiberias. On the other hand, the only possible 
echo of the name of Taricheae in later times is found 
on the south of the lake. 5 The second point has been 

1 Josephus, iii. Wars, x. I : cf. iv. Wars, i. 3. 

2 W. 'Amwas, Frei, Z.D.P.V. ix. 104 ff. : W. Abu el 'Amis on the 
English map. 

8 virwpeios, iii. Wars, x. X. 4 Life, 59 and 60. 

8 In the Jichus ha-Sadikim (of the end of the sixteenth century, which 
mentions next to the Baths of Tiberias a HpfcOD, that looks very like a cor- 
ruption of Taricheae). See p. 386 of Carmoly's Itincraires de la Terre Sainti 
<ies xiii e -xvii° siteUs. — Conder's identification of Tarichese with Takar 01 



454 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



mentioned, but has not received its proper emphasis : the 
third has been overlooked. On opposite sides, they leave 
the question on the same delicate balance as the rest of 
the evidence. A more decisive discovery would be the 
presence of brine in any considerable quantity at some 
point on the coast : failing that, the southern end of the 
lake as nearest to the Dead Sea, would be the most con- 
venient position for such curing-yards as formed the staple 
industry of Taricheae. 1 Kerak, too, lies on a peninsula, 
just where the Jordan issues from the Lake, and is the 
only position on the coast which now suits Josephus' 
description of Taricheae as washed on more than one side 
by the sea. 

Taricheae is a Greek word, and means 'pickling places, 
and Strabo says that ' at Taricheae the lake supplied the 
best fish for curing.' 2 The pickled fish of 

Its Industries. 

Galilee were known throughout the Roman 
world : not only were large quantities taken up to Jeru- 
salem at the season of the yearly feasts for the multi- 

Takar-Aar of the Mohar's travels {Handbook > p. 279) cannot be thought of for 
Taricheae is a Greek name. Nor is Neubauer's identification of Taricheae 
with the Talmudic flT 1 JV3, which he supposes to have been corrupted to 
rTHn, at all likely ; though VTP fTO is placed near Sinnabris, probably by 
the issue of the Jordan {Geog. du Talmud, p. 216, cf. with p. 31). Kerak he 
supposes to be a corruption of m 1 * = nV But this is equally 

unlikely. More probable is the hypothesis that Kerak is a reminiscence of 
Rakkath. 

1 Seetzen {Reiscn) reports the name Mellaha, 'salt,' as heard by him near 
K.erak. Robinson {B.R. iii. 263) suspects a confusion with 'Ain Mellaha on 
Lake Huleh ; but Frei reports that, while he missed the name Sinn-in-Nabra, 
Mellaha was given him as the name of a place to be sought for on the hill 
slopes, and Kasteren heard the coast-level called Mellaha (for these references 
see n. 1, p. 452), and Guerin reports the name Khurbet el Mellaha. If this 
tame be really there, it would go far towards fixing the southern site. 

a xvi. ch. ii. § 45. Pickled fish {Taplxv) were much known in the Roman 
*nd Greek world. Many places on the Egyptian coast had the name Tapt\tcu, 
The Galilean port is called Ta/»x^cu, Tapix a ' at » an( i Taptxaia- 



The Lake of Galilee 455 



tudes which gathered there, but barrels of them were 
carried round the Mediterranean. Josephus describes 
Taricheae as full of materials for ship-building, and with 
many artisans. 1 The harbour could shelter a fleet of 
vessels. That so important a place, and moreover one 
not like Tiberias, official and foreign, but thoroughly 
Galilean, as Josephus testifies, and a centre of the disciples' 
own craft, should never be mentioned in the Gospels is 
remarkable. 2 The reason may be that, at this date, 
Taricheae was still Greek — the name implies that its 
industry was at least of foreign introduction. But if the 
town really lay at the south-west corner of the lake, we 
must remember that this district never seems to have 
been visited by our Lord and His disciples. Perhaps it 
was out of the way of those main roads which they 
selected for their journeys, and yet not solitary enough to 
afford them a retreat. It is not only Taricheae that is 
omitted from the Gospels ; nothing south of Gennesaret is 
mentioned, neither Tiberias nor the Baths, nor Sinnabris, 
nor Taricheae, nor Homonoea, nor Scythopolis. 8 

North of Tiberias lay Magdala, the present Mejdel on 
the Plain of Gennesaret, 4 and Capernaum, Bethsaida, and 

1 iii. Wars, x. 6. 

2 Large draughts of fish, such as we read of in the Gospels, must have been 
carried to Tarichese to be cured. They could not be otherwise used in that 
tropical climate. 

3 How little is to be inferred from the silence of the Gospels about places 
mentioned in Josephus is to be seen from the reverse case of the silence of 
Josephus about Nazareth. He agitated and fought pretty well all over 
Galilee, he mentions many villages as obscure as Nazareth, and yet he is silent 
about the latter. Homonces (Joseph. Life, 54), '0/j.ovola, thirty stades from 
Tiberias, 'Ard el Hamma (jb'urrer, Z.D.P.V. ii. 52), or Umm Junia as on 
P.E.F. Map, 1 89 1. On the absolutely lost city of Philoteria, which lay to the 
south of the Lake of Galilee, Polybius v. 10, cf. Schiirer I. i. 196. 

4 Migdal-el, cf. Josephus. 



456 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Chorazin upon sites which will probably always remain 
matters of dispute. Chorazin might be Khersa on the 
eastern shore, but is more probably the present 

Magdala. 

ruins 1 of Keraseh northwards from Tell- Hum. 
Capernaum has been assigned both to Tell- Hum, three 
miles SW. of the issue of Jordan and Khan 

Chorazin. 

Minyeh on the northern edge of Gennesaret ; 
but the evidence is greatly in favour of the latter site, 2 
and one may fix the house of Jesus, as Mark 

Capernaum. 

calls it, the birthplace of the Gospel, at that 
north-east corner of fair Gennesaret, where the waves 
beat now on an abandoned shore, but once there was a 

1 With which both Arculf, about 670 A. D. , and Willibald, 723-726, identify it. 

2 Capernaum was Kephar-Nahum, the village of Nahum. A strong Chris- 
tian tradition from the sixth century onward has fixed it at Tell- Hum, and 
this site is preferred by such authorities as Wilson, Furrer, and Socin {Bded. 
ed. 3, 258 ; also Schiirer, n. ii. p. 71). Christian tradition has erred in regard 
to other sites, e.g. Sychar, as we have seen. Tell-Hum is an impossible con- 
traction from Kephar-Nahum. There is no Tell at the place, and Guerin 
( Galil. i. 279) is right in deriving the name from Tanhum, a Jewish Rabbi buried 
here (cf. the Jichus ha-Abot'm Carmoly, Itiner, etc., des xiii e -xvii e Steele, 
449, 478. But the fichus ha-Sadikim, ib. 385, sets there the tombs both of 
Nahum and Tanhum). Tell-Hum is on the great. road, and so near the 
frontier that it suits Capernaum's character as a customs city, but it is a water- 
less site, with no such fountain as Josephus describes in Capernaum, iii. Wars, 
x. 8, nor near enough to Gennesaret to suit Josephus' description. 

For Khan Minyeh the tradition is nearly as old. Arculf (670) found 
Capernaum here, and in 1334 Isaac Chilo {Les Chcmins de Jems., in Carmoly 
259), who arrives at Kefar Nahum, says that here aforetime dwelt Minim, or 
sorcerers, a name given by Jews to all early converts to Christianity. The 
Talmud defines sinners, or Minim, as ' sons of Kefar Nahum.' Conder and 
others therefore see the survival of Minim in Minyeh. Furrer {Z.D.P. V. ii. 
58 ff.) objects that a nickname would scarcely survive where the real name 
had died, and Gildemeister {ib. iv. 194 ff.) says Minyeh, which he spells from 
old authorities el-munja, is the Arabic word (common in Egypt and Spain), 
derived from the Greek fiovl] and = mansio, villa, steading, small village. 
Here, in the eleventh century, lay a place called Munjat Hischam (Kazwini's 
Lexicon). Hischam was dropped ; in 1430 El-Munja is mentioned as a large 
village, after which even the whole lake is called (El-Munja is the frequent 
Spanish Almunia). Tristram, Israel, gives the form Miniyeh ; so Delitzscb 



The Lake of Galilee 



457 



quay and a busy town, and the great road from east to 
west poured its daily stream of life. With regard to 
Bethsaida, it has been supposed by most that the refer- 
ences in the Gospels require us to conceive of two places 
of that name. Of one of these there can be no doubt, 
Bethsaida, Fisher-Home, was the name of a 

Bethsaida. 

village on the east bank of Jordan, and near 
the river's mouth, which the tetrarch Philip rebuilt and 
named Julias, in honour of the daughter of Augustus. 1 
This is the Bethsaida to which Jesus withdrew on hearing 
of the Baptist's death, 2 and near which was the desert place? 
described by John 4 as on the other side of the Sea oj 
Galilee \ where the five thousand, who had followed K*m 
on foot by the fords over Jordan, 5 were miraculously fed. 
The level plain on the east of the Jordan, the Butaiha, so 
fertile that some have claimed it for Gennesaret, still helps 
us to understand how there was much grass in the place* 
When the meal was over, Jesus, we are told, constrained 
His disciples to go to the other side before towards Bethsaida. 

derives the name from Mineh, harbour. However this may be, Khan Minyeh 
suits generally the description of Josephus, iii. Wars, x. 8 ; while he might as 
easily be brought here when wounded on the Jordan {Lift, 71-73) as to Tell- 
Hum. The references in the Gospels to Capernaum all suit Khan Minyeh. 
There are ruins, Quaresmius ii. 568, both on the plain, Robinson and Merrill 
{E. of Jordan 301 f.) who found a city wall, and on- the hill, Schumacher, 
(Z.D.P.V. xiii. 70: place-names Tell el 'Oreme, dahr es sillam, ard es 
siki umm Je'ade[?]). Robinson, L.R. 348-358 ; Conder [Handbook and T.W.); 
Henderson (Pal. 158 f.); Keim's Jesus, Eng. Ed. ii. 367 ff. ; Stanley, Sin. 
and Pal. 384, etc. 

1 xviii. Antt. ii. 1 ; ii. Wars, ix. 1. On its position cf. xviii. Antt. ii. I, 
which fixes it on the lake with Life, 72, near Jordan ; cf. ii. Wars, xiii. 2, 
across Jordan, though this may be the other Julias of Herod Antipas. 

a Luke ix. 10. 8 Mark vi. 31 ; Matt. xiv. 13. 4 John vi. IO. 

* One is now two miles from the mouth, P.E.F. Large Map. 

6 John vi. io. They sat down on the green grass, Mark vi. 39 : on the grass 
Matt. xiv. 19. 



45 8 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 

Does this oblige us to admit another Bethsaida on the 
western coast? Some, however unwillingly, 1 conclude 
that it does, and have found the second Bethsaida either as 
a suburb of Julias on the west bank of Jordan, 2 or farther 
along the coast at 'Ain Tabigha. 3 But when Jesus urges 
His disciples to go across to Bethsaida, this does not imply 
a crossing to the west, for Josephus speaks of ' sailing 
over from Tiberias to Taricheae,' though these towns lay 
on the same side of the lake. 4 And in this case it would 
be natural for Jesus to wish to return from the scene of 
the miracle, which we may place some way down the 
eastern coast, to Bethsaida-Julias, for, according to Luke, 
He had just fled there from Herod's jurisdiction in the 
west. The Fourth Gospel, it is true, speaks of Bethsaida 
in Galilee? but this need not mean that it lay west of the 
Jordan, for, as we have seen, the province of Galilee ran 
right round the lake, and included most of the level coast- 
land on the east. 6 It is not, therefore, necessary to 
demand more than one Bethsaida. 7 Wherever these three 
— Capernaum, Bethsaida and Chorazin — may have been, 
the well-nigh complete obliteration of all of them is 
remarkable in this, that they were the very three towns 
which our Saviour condemned to humiliation. 

Down the east coast the city of Gergesa has been 
identified with the ruins known as Khersa, at the only 

1 Reland (653-655), who feels himself very unwillingly shut up to t^o 
Bethsaidas. Henderson, Pal. 156, 157. 

2 Thomson, Land and Book. % Fiirer v. Haimendorf, 1566. 
4 Life, 89. 6 xii. 21. 

6 As the Kad'at Tubariyeh does to-day (cf. ii. Wars, xx. 4). Even Judas of 
Gamala is sometimes called Galilean, xviii. Antt. i. 6. Ptolemaus, 140 A.D., 
reckons Julias to Galilee, but by that time it had been definitely attached to 
the latter (84 A.D.). 

7 So also Holtzman, Jahrb. fur Prot. Theol 1878, No. 2. 383 f. 



The Lake of Galilee 



459 



portion of that coast on which the steep hills come down 
to the shore. 1 Farther south there is the gorge of 
Fik, or Aphek, up which the great road ran 
from Scythopolis to Damascus. On a long 
camel's-neck of hill, which fills the middle of this gorge, 
the Kula'at el Hosn, Gamala has been placed, but not 
past doubt. 2 Hippos, however, was certainly Gamalaand 
the present Susiyeh, above the same gorge. 3 Hi ppos. 
Aphek lay a little higher up on the plateau, the present 
village of Fik. And Gadara looked up the 

CjclCicLr2l 

lake from the heights immediately south of the 
Yarmuk. 4 Below Gadara, in the Ghor, there must have 
been villages, some by the lake, like the present Semak, 
and some at the foot of the hills, where ruins now lie. 5 

This catalogue of the towns on the Lake of Galilee, if it 
fail to fix for us the sites of many of them, cannot but 
force our imagination to realise the almost Agirdleof 
unbroken line of buildings by which the lake towns - 
was surrounded. Of this her coasts still bear the mark. 
As the Dead Sea is girdled by an almost constant hedge 
of driftwood, so the Sea of Galilee is girdled by a scarcely 
less continuous belt of ruins — the drift of her ancient 
towns. 6 In the time of our Lord she must have mirrored 

1 Gergesa is the reading supported by the documents. Gerasa is impos- 
sible. Keim, Jesus, has argued strongly for Gadara. 

J See, for the arguments between this and Gamli, Schiirer, Hist. ii. I. 

3 Clermont Ganneau was the first to suggest that the name Susiyeh, the 
Arabic equivalent of Hippos, might be found here, and the discovery was made 
by Schumacher, P.E.F.Q. 1887, 36 ff. ; The Jauldn, 244; Neubauer, Gio. 
du Talm. 238 f. 4 For a description of Gadara see ch. xxviii. 

6 Over the present road, down the Ghor, south-west from Gadara, and just 
at the foot of the hill. 

6 * These accumulated fragments, the multitude of towns, and the mag- 
nificence of the constructions of which they were proofs, recalled to rny 
mind the road which leads along the foot of Vesuvius from Castellamare 



4-6o The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



within the outline of her guardian hills little else than 
city-walls, houses, synagogues, wharves and factories. 1 
Greek architecture hung its magnificence over her simple 
life : Herod's castle, temple and theatres in Tiberias ; the 
bath-houses at Hammath ; a hippodrome at Taricheae ; 
and, farther back from the shore, the high-stacked houses 
of Hippos ; the amphitheatre in Gadara, looking up 
the lake with the Acropolis above it, and the paved 
street with its triumphal archway ; the great Greek villas 
on the heights about Gadara ; with a Roman camp or 
two, high enough up the slopes to catch the western 
breeze, and daily sending its troops to relieve guard in 
the cities. All this was what imposed itself upon that 
simple open-air life on fields and roads and boats, which 
we see in the Gospels, so sunny and so free. Amid the 
sowing and reaping, the fishing and mending of nets, the 
journeying to and fro upon foot, all the simple habits of 
the native life, do we not catch some shadows of that 
other world, which had grown up around it, in the crowds 
that are said to grind on one another in the narrow lanes, 
like corn between millstones ; 2 in the figures of the cen- 
turion, the publican, and the demoniac crying that his 
name was Legion ; in the stories of the pulling down of 
barns and the building of greater ; of opulent householders 
leaving their well-appointed villas for a time with every 
servant in his place, and the porter set to watch ; of 
market-places and streets, as well as lanes ; 3 in the com- 
parison of the towns on the lake to great cities — Sodom 

to Portici. As there, the borders of the Lnke of Gennesareth seem to have 
borne cities instead of harvests and forests.' — Lamartine. 

1 There were tanneries and potteries by the present 'Ain et Tabighah. 

1 Mark v. 24 : avvl9\i$ov aurby ; cf. Luke viih 42 ; avvivyLyov avrbv 

* Go ye out into the streets and lanes. 



The Lake of Galilee 



and Gomorrah, Tyre and Sidon and Nineveh ; in the 
mention of the sins of a city, 1 and of Mammon and all the 
things after which the Gentiles seek, and in the acknow- 
ledgment that Galilee was a place where a man might 
gain the whole world} 

Twice it has seemed to me that I saw the lake as it 
lay in those thronged days. One of these occasions was 
among the tombs of Gadara. Some peasants 

.... „ Two glimpses 

had just dug up the gravestone of a Roman of our Lord's 
soldier, whose name was given — P . . . Aelius, time * 
*nd that he had lived forty years, and served nineteen ; but 
it also said that lie was of a Legion, the Fourteenth. 3 As 
I read this last detail — and the word is still stamped on 
other stones in the neighbourhood — I realised how familiar 
lhat engine of foreign oppression had been to this region, 
so that the poor madman could find nothing fitter than it' 
to describe the incubus upon his own life. My name is 
Legion, he S3.id, for we are many. The second occasion 
was at Fik, as I looked across the site of Gamala and 



i Luke vii. 37. 1 Luke ix. 25. 

3 The whole inscription read as follows : 

DM 

P . AEL . . . 

bi a 

IOB 

MILKS LEG XIIII 
G ANO XL 
STIP XIX ER 
VDES INSTIT 
VTI M GAI 
VS ET RVFI . 
US PROCV 
RAVERVNT 

Publius (?) Aelius ... A soldier of the Fourteenth Legion, Gemina, in his 
fortieth year, and nineteenth of service ; the heirs designate, Marcus Gaius 
and Rufinus (?). saw to everything. 



462 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



down the gorge, on the lake and the houses of Tiberias 
opposite — their squalor glorified in the mid-day sun. I 
saw nothing but water and houses, and the sound came 
over the hill of a bugle of a troop of Turkish horse. It 
was a glimpse and an echo of that time when Greek cities 
and Roman camps environed the lake. Yet only a 
glimpse ; for Gamala should have been stacked with her 
high houses, and the lake dotted with sails, and on the 
air there should have been the hum of tens of thousands 
of a population crowded within a few square miles. The 
only sound I heard, save the bugle, was of bees. The 
scene differs from what it was as much as a wood in 
winter from a wood in summer, or a bay at ebb from 
bay near full tide, when the waters are rushing and th. 
boats are sailing to and fro. 

The industries of the Lake of Galilee were agriculture 
and fruit-growing ; dyeing and tanning, with every depart- 
ment of a large carrying trade ; but chiefly fishing, boat- 
building and fish-curing. Of the last, which spread the 
lake's fame over the Roman world before its fishermen 
and their habits became familiar through the Gospel, 
there is no trace in the Evangelists. The fisheries them- 
selves were pursued by thousands of families. They were 
no monopoly ; but the fishing-grounds, best at the north 
end of the lake, where the streams entered, were free to 
all. And the trade was very profitable. 1 

It was in the ranks of those who pursued this free and 
hardy industry that Christ looked for His disciples. Not 

1 See above on Taricheae, pp. 451-455. Frei reports that, in one cast of 
the net from the shore, he saw a risherman secure twenty-eight, and he 
rightly infers from that an enormous wealth of fish in the lake, Z.D.P. V. 
ix. 102. On the kinds of fish, see Hasselquist's Travels; Tristram, The Land 
of Israel ; Merrill, East of Jordan , i. 41. They are chiefly a kind of mullet 



The Lake of Galilee 



463 



wealthy, they were yet independent, with no servile tem- 
pers about them ; and with no private or trade wrongs 
disadj listing their consciences. This was one of the 
reasons for which our Lord chose them. In that age it 
would have been easy to gather, as David did into the 
Cave of Adullam, all that were in debt, or in distress or 
discontented, or had run away from their masters. But 
such would not have been the men to preach a spiritual 
gospel, the coming, not of a national, but of a universal 
kingdom. Men brought up, however justly, to feel the 
wrongs of their class or of their trade before anything else, 
would have been of no use to Christ. Just as futile would 
those * innovators ' have proved, whom Josephus describes 
to have so largely composed the population of Galilee. 
Christ went to a trade which had no private wrongs : and 
called men, not from their dreams, but from work they 
were contented to do from day to day till something 
higher should touch them. And so it has come to pass 
that not the jargon of the fanatics and brigands in the 
highlands of Galilee, but the speech of the fishermen of her 
lake, and the instruments of their simple craft, have become 
the language and symbolism of the world's religion. 



CHAPTER XXII 
THE JORDAN VALLEY 



2 G 



Fer this Chapter consult Map Z, TIL, IV., V. and 



THE JORDAN VALLEY 



AMONG the rivers of the world the Jordan is unique 
by a twofold distinction of Nature and History. 
There are hundreds of other streams more Natural and 
large, more useful, or more beautiful ; there is 1^°™,^ 
none which has been more spoken about by of the J ordan - 
mankind. Other rivers have awakened a richer poetry 
in the peoples through whom they pass, — for the refer- 
ences to Jordan in the Bible are very few, and, with two 
or three exceptions, prosaic, — but of none has the music 
sounded so far, or so pleasantly, across the world. There 
are holy waters which annually attract to themselves a 
greater number of pilgrims, but there is none to which 
pilgrims travel from such various and distant lands. In 
influence upon the imagination of man, the Nile is perhaps 
the Jordan's only competitor. He has drawn to his valley 
one after another of the greatest races of the world ; his 
mystery and annual miracle have impressed the mind 
equally of ancient and of modern man. But the Nile has 
never been adopted by a universal religion. To the 
fathers of human civilisation, that silent flood, which cut 
their land in two, across which their dead were ferried, 
and the Lord Sun himself passed daily to his death 
among the desert hills, was the symbolic border of the 
next world. But who now knows this, who feels it, 

«57 



468 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



except as a fact of very ancient history ? Whereas, still 
to half the world, the short, thin thread of the Jordan is 
the symbol of both great frontiers of the spirit's life on 
earth — the baptism through which it passes into God's 
Church, and the waters of death which divide this pilgrim 
fellowship from the promised land. 

The Nile and the Jordan, otherwise so different, are 
alike in this, that the historical singularity of each has 
behind it as remarkable a singularity of physical forma- 
tion. Both valleys were laid open by the same geological 
disturbance, 1 and it left them equally monstrous and 
unique. Every one knows the incomparableness of the 
Nile — that solitary and stupendous river which, unfed for 
a thousand miles by any tributary or by rain from heaven, 
has sustained of his own resource the civilisation of a 
mighty empire, and still, by his annual flood, bestows on 
the desert a fertility not excelled in any country, which 
has all the fountains of heaven and of the great deep in 
its fortune. In its own way the Jordan is as solitary and 
extreme an effect of natural forces. There may be some- 
thing on the surface of another planet to match the 
Jordan Valley : there is nothing on this. No other part 
of our earth, uncovered by water, sinks to 300 feet below 
the level of the ocean. 2 But here we have a rift more 

1 Hull, P.E.F. Survey Memoirs, Geology, 108 ; Dawson, Mod. Science in 
Bible Lands, 588 ; Gregory, Proc. Brit. Assoc. 1894. See below. 

2 The other depressions of the surface of the continents below ocean- 
level are :— Asia : the level of the Caspian Sea is more than 80 feet below 
that of the Black Sea ; and part of the Caspian coasts, a depression be- 
tween Lake EUon and the Ural, in which a lake used to lie, but it is now 
dry, is 151 feet below the Black Sea. In Africa there is the Fayum, part 
of which is a few feet— 5 to 20 feet— under sea-level ; and the Shott Melr'ir 
marshes and salt fields in the Sahara, which are from 95 to 279 feet below 
the Mediterranean. 



The Jordan Valley 



469 



than one hundred and sixty miles long, 1 and from two to 
fifteen broad, which falls from the sea-level to as deep as 
1292 feet below it at the coast of the Dead Sea, while the 
bottom of the latter is 1300 feet deeper still. In this 
trench there are the Jordan, a river nearly one hundred 
miles long ; two great lakes, respectively twelve and fifty- 
three miles in length ; large tracts of arable country, espe- 
cially about Gennesaret, Bethshan and Jericho, regions 
which were once very populous, like the coasts of the 
Lake of Galilee ; and the sites of some famous towns — 
Tiberias, Jericho, and the 1 Cities of the Plain.' Is it not 
true that on the earth there is nothing else like this deep, 
this colossal ditch ? 

Geologists 2 tell us that these regions, being covered 
with water, from which the granite peaks of Sinai alone 
protruded, great deposits of limestone were 

Formation of 

laid upon the ocean-bed. Under pressure the Jordan 

1 , , Valle y- 

irom east and west the limestone rose above 

the water in long folds, running north and south. 3 Two of 

these folds are now the ranges on either side of the Jordan 

Valley, but the latter is due, not only to their elevation, but 

to a violent rupture of the strata between them. This 

1 fault ' is not confined to that portion of the valley which 

is beneath sea-level : it extends all the way from Northern 

Syria, through between the Lebanons, down the Jordan 

1 From just below Lake Huleh, where the dip below sea-level begins, 
to the point on the Arabah south of the Dead Sea, where the valley rises 
again to sea-level. 

2 Hull, P.E.F. Mem. Geol. Pt. IV. ch. i. 108 ff. ; Dawson, Mod. Science 
in Bible Lands, ch. viii. and App. iv. ; Lartet, La Mer Morte ; Conder, 
T. W. 217 ff. See also M. Blanckenhorn, Z.D.P. V. t 1896. 

8 ' Early in the Miocene epoch, ... by tangential pressure of the earth's 
surface due to contraction, . . . the contraction being due to the seculai 
cooling of the crust.' — Hull, p. ro8. 



470 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



and along the Wady 'Arabah to the Gulf of 'Akaba, or 
three hundred and fifty miles. 1 Had the two long-folds 
risen in complete isolation from each other, the valley 
would to-day have been an arm of the Red Sea stretching 
to the foot of Lebanon, and in such a case how changed 
the whole history of Palestine must have been ! But the 
two folds were not absolutely disconnected. As they rose 
from the waters there rose between them, near their 
southern end, a diagonal ridge of limestone, which is still 
visible about forty-five miles to the north of the Gulf of 
'Akaba, in the present water-parting between 'Akaba and 
the Dead Sea. 2 This not only shut out the Red Sea, but 
shut in a part of the old ocean-bed with a large quantity 
of salt water. 3 There then followed a period of great 
rains, with perpetual snow and glaciers on Lebanon, 
during which the valley was filled with fresh water to an 
extent of two hundred miles, 4 or one long lake from the 
Sea of Galilee to some fifty miles south of the present end 
of the Dead Sea. How the valley passed from that con- 
dition to its present state is not clear. Some think the 
change of climate — great decrease of rain with the dis- 
appearance of the glaciers — sufficient to account for the 
gradual shrinking of the one large lake to the limits of 
two smaller ones. 6 There are, however, traces of various 

1 Dawson, p. 442. 

5 1 The water-parting which here crosses the valley has doubtless con- 
tinued as such ever since the whole region emerged from the ocean.' — 
Hull, ibid. 20. 

8 Hull, p. 109 (also 120). Hull accounts for the peculiar launa and flora 
of the Lake of Galilee and of Jordan by their original connection with the 
ocean, 109, no. They suffered the change experienced elsewhere on the 
earth's surface, e.g. on the Caspian Sea, of the passage from salt to fresh 
water. 

* Hull, 15, 113, with sketch-map, p. 72, showing the lake ; Dawson, 444. 

• Hull, 115. 



The Jordan Valley 



47i 



sea-beaches so distinct, and in some cases so far apart, 
that it has been inferred that the confinement of the 
water successively within these must have been caused as 
much by sudden convulsions, for which the region has 
always been notorious, as by gradual desiccation. This 
inference is supported by the fact that, within the obser- 
vation of man, the Dead Sea has not become smaller, 
but has rather increased. 1 Volcanic disturbances on a 
very large scale took place in the Jordan Valley within 
comparatively recent times. 2 

In this long rift from the Lebanons to the Red Sea 
there are six distinct sections : the Beka'a, or valley 
between the Lebanons ; the Upper Jordan, 

' Sections of 

from its sources at the foot of Hermon the Jordan 

Valley. 

through Lake Huleh to the Lake of Galilee ; 
this Lake itself ; the Lower Jordan to its mouth at Jericho ; 
the Dead Sea ; and, thence to the Gulf of 'Akaba, the 
Wady 'Arabah. Of these, the first and the last fall outside 
our area, and we have already visited the Lake of Galilee ; 
so that there only remain to be described the Upper 
Jordan, the Lower Jordan, and the Dead Sea. 



I. The Upper Jordan. 

The great valley of Palestine, as it runs out from between 
the Lebanons, makes a slight turn eastward round the 
foot of Hermon, so that Hermon not only Thesources 
looks right down the rest of its course, but is of the Jordan, 
able to discharge into this three-fourths of the waters 



1 Conder, T. W. 210, 220. 



s Notling, Z.D.P.V. 1885. 



472 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



which gather on his high and ample bulk. By these and 
the streams, which break from the rest of the surrounding 
hills, the floor of the valley is soaked in moisture. Once, 
probably, it was all a lake. To-day this has shrunk to its 
lower end — the so-called Lake of Huleh, and the rest is 
marsh and fat meadow, with a few mounds and terraces 
covered by trees. Four streams, which unite before enter- 
ing the lake, contest the honour of being considered as 
the source of the Jordan. The only one which does not 
spring upon the eastern watershed is the Nahr Bareighit, 
which comes down the Merj 'Ayun from a source very 
slightly separated from the valley of the Litany. It is 
the smallest. The next one, the Nahr Hasbany, springs 
half a mile to the north of Hasbeya, from a buttress of 
Hermon, and comes south between Hermon and the Jebel 
Dahar. This is the longest of the four, and most in the 
line of the Jordan itself, but it has much less water than 
either of the other two — the Nahr Leddan, which is the 
heaviest but the shortest, springing from Tell-el-Kadi, in 
the bosom of the valley itself ; and the Nahr Banias, 
which has the most impressive origin of all four, in the 
very roots of Hermon, and gathers to itself the largest 
number of tributaries. It is these two which have gene- 
rally been regarded as the sources of Jordan. 1 

1 No ancient writer mentions any sources of the Jordan but these two last 
at Dan and Banias. Josephus styles the stream which springs from Dan 
4 the so-called Little Jordan,' iv. Wars, i. I, cf. viii. Antt. viii. 4 ; again, 
' the Lesser Jordan,' v. Antt. iii. 1. The source at Banias he calls the 
reputed fountain of Jordan, i. Wars, xxi. 3 ; iii. ibid. x. 7. It is in the 
latter passage that he tells his story of Lake Phiala as the ultimate source, 
from which he says it had been proved, by throwing chaff into it, that the 
fountains at Banias were fed. Phiala, ' 120 stadia on the way to Trachonitis,' 
is probably Birket er Ram, Robinson, B.R. iii. 614 ff. 

The Onomasticon, sub Aeura (Laisa), gives Paneas as the source. From 
Arculf (?oo) onwards through Willibald (722), and through the entire seriei 



The Jordan Valley 473 



Travellers usually arrive first at the source of the 
Leddan. It is a mound, perhaps a hundred yards long, 
and rising some sixty feet above the plain 

. Tell-el-Kadi. 

before the plain rises to Hermon. Draped by 
trees and bush, it is plumed and crested by a grove of 
high oaks. On the western side, through some huge 
boulders, whose lower half its rapid rush has worn bare, a 
stream, about twelve feet broad by three deep, breaks 
from the bowels of the earth ; while another, more shallow 
and quiet, appears higher up in a jungle of reeds and 
bushes. This opulent mound is called Tell-el-Kadi, and 
Kadi means the same as Dan. It is, therefore, supposed 
to be the site of Laish or Leshem, which the Danites took 
for their city. 1 But this might also be fixed at Banias, and 
with even more probability, 2 for Banias is a better site 
than Tell-el-Kadi for the capital of the district, and we 
cannot conceive any tribe to have been able to hold 
Tell-el-Kadi who did not also hold Banias. 3 

Paneas lies scarcely an hour to the north of Tell-el- 
Kadi. From the latter you pass a well-watered meadow, 
covered by trees, and then a broad terrace, 
with oaks, like an English park, till you come 
to the edge of a deep gorge, through which there roars a 

of pilgrim narratives and chronicles in Crusading times {e.g. Saewulf, Fetellus, 
Benjamin of Tudela, De Joinville, etc. etc.), and later writers like Maunde- 
ville (1322), Felix Fabri (1480) — the story runs that Jordan springs from two 
sources, Jor and Dan, at the foot of Lebanon, near Banias. (But Daniel 
(1 106) calls the two issues from the Lake of Galilee, Jor and Dan.) How 
the names arose is evident. Dan was known to have lain there, and they 
took the second syllable in the name of the river to be its name. This left 
Jor, which, it was easy to suppose, was the name of the other fountain. But 
the ancients and medisevals located Dan, not at Tell-el-Kadi, but at Paneas, 

1 See p. 57. In Josephus' time, when it was called Daphne, there was ' a 
temple of the golden calf,' iv. Wars i. I. 

3 Onomasticon, art. Aelaa. 8 Se« p. a8i. 



474 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



headlong stream, half stifled by bush. An old Roman 
Bridge takes you over, and then through a tangle of trees, 
brushwood and fern you break into sight of a high cliff of 
limestone, reddened by the water that oozes over its face 
from the iron soil above. 1 In the cliff is a cavern. Part 
of the upper rock has fallen, and from the debris of 
boulders and shingle below there bursts and bubbles 
along a line of thirty feet a full-born river. The place is 
a very sanctuary of waters, and from time immemorial 
men have drawn near it to worship. As you stand within 
the charm of it — and this is a charm not uncommon in 
the Lebanons— you understand why the early Semites 
adored the Baalim of the subterranean waters even before 
they raised their gods to heaven, and thanked them for 
the rain. 2 This must have been one of the chief dwellings 
of the Baalim — perhaps Baal-gad of the Book of Joshua. 1 
When the Greeks came in later times they also felt the 
presence of deity, and dedicated the grotto, as an inscrip. 
tion still testifies, to Pan and the Nymphs. 4 Hill, cavern, 
and fountain were called the Paneion, 6 and the town and 
district Paneas. 6 In 20 B.C. Herod the Great received the 

1 The cliff is 'from a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet,' Robinson, 
L.R. 106. 

a Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, 97, etc 

■ Joshua xi. 17, xii. 7, xiii. 5. There was also a Baal-Hermon. Judges 
Hi. 3, the Mount of Baal-Hermon. 

4 IlavL Te teal Nifyi0cus is the first line of an inscription on the rock of the 
grotto. 

• Josephus calls the whole 1 place ' t6 Haveiov, xv. Antt. x. 3, i. Wars, 
xxi. 3. In iii. Wars, x. 7, he gives the name to the fountain. Eusebius, 
H.E. vii. 17, gives it to the hill. In Josephus' time the cave, he says, over- 
hung an unfathomable pool. 

6 See Schurer's note, Hist, of Jewish People, II. i. 133. Ilavidt or Ilaveds, 
properly an adjective, designates both the country (xv. Antt. x. 3, etc.; cf. 
Pliny, HN. v. 18) and the town (xviii. Antt. ii. 1). 



The Jordan Valley 475 



whole district from Augustus, 1 and built to him a temple 
of white marble, setting the bust of Caesar hard by the 
shrine of Pan. 2 Philip, the tetrarch of this region, Ceesarea 
embellished the town and called it Caesarea, 8 Phlll PPi- 
and it came to be known as his Caesarea — Caesarea Philippi 
— to distinguish it from his father's on the sea-coast. 4 The 
official designation was altered by Agrippa II. 5 to Neronias, 
which was used along with the name Caesarea even under 
Marcus Aurelius, 6 but then died out. Caesarea lasted a 
little longer in conjunction with Paneas, 6 till Paneas sur- 
vived alone, and has survived to the present day, only 
that Arabs, with no / upon their lips, spell it Banias. 7 

The extraordinary mixture of religious and political 
interests which gathered upon this charming site during 
the first centuries of our era may be seen at a 

...... . r Coins of Pan. 

glance, in all its rich confusion, upon the pageful 
of the town's coins which De Saulcy has reproduced. 8 
Here, on one coin, we have the syrinx or pipe of Pan ; 
on a second Pan leaning on a tree and playing a flute ; on 
a third the mouth of the sacred cavern, with a railing in 
front of it, and Pan within, again leaning on a tree and 
playing the flute ; on others the laurelled head of Apollo, 
a pillared temple, and inside the figure of Poppaea, Nero's 
wife, whom he first kicked to death and afterwards raised 
to divine honours ; various emperors with their title Divus, 

1 On the death of Zenodorus, the previous lord of these parts, xv. Antt. 
x. 3 ; i. Wars, xxi. 3. 

3 xviii. A nit. ii. I. 3 xviii. Antt. ii. I ; iii. Wars> ix. 7, etc 

4 xx. Antt. ix. 4. 

5 De Saulcy, Numismatique de la Terre Sainte, 315, 316 : Plate xviii., cf. 
No. 7 with No. 8. 6 Ibid. 

7 (jojIju lj. The tradition of its Greek origin was strong among the Arabs, 
only they took its founder to have been Balnias, i.e. Pliny. 
' Op. cit. PKte xviii. 



476 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



and the town's own title, ' Caesarea — August, Sacred and 
With Rights of Sanctuary— under Paneion.' 1 This proves 
that the two systems of religion were carried on together, 
and that Pan was worshipped in the grotto, whose niches 
still bear his name, while divine honours were paid to 
Caesar in the white temple that stood perhaps on the cliff 
above, 2 the site of the present Mohammedan shrine of 
Sheikh Khudr, or St. George. 3 

While both these sanctuaries were open, and men thus 
worshipped side by side the forces of nature and the 
Jesus in the incarnation of political power, Jesus came with 
Casarea disciples to tne coasts of Caesarea Philippi. 

Phiiippi. Never did the place better earn its title of 
Asylos, or shelter nobler fugitives. The journey of our 
Lord and His disciples was, in the first instance, a retreat 
from Jewish hostility to the neutrality of Gentile ground. 
But it became also the occasion of His resolution to 
return to meet the Jews, and the death which lay ready 
for Him in their hate. From this farthest corner of the 
land Jesus set His face steadfastly to Jerusalem. The 
scenery had already been consecrated by the 

Psalm xlii. . . . 

crisis and turning of a soul, by the hope which 
another exile had seen break through his drenching sorrow, 
like as the sun breaks through the mists and saturated 
woods of the hills around. 

* . . . From the land of Jordan, 
And the Hertnons,from the hill MtYar, 
Deep unto deep is calling at the noise of thy waterfalls : 
All thy breakers and billows are gone over me. 



1 Ibid. 8. KAIC . C EB . IBP . KAI . AC . Til . HANIfi. AC . is for d<rv\oi t 
with rights of asylum or sanctuary. 

a The exact position of Herod's temple is unknown. Hewn stones are 
scattered all over the place. 8 See p. 162. 



The Jordan Valley 



477 



With a breaking in my bones mine enemies reproach me, 
While they say unto me all the day, Where is thy God ? 

Why art thou cast down, my soul? 
And why art thou disquieted upon me ? 
Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, 
Health of my countenanct, and my God.- 1 

This Psalm, amidst its own sympathetic scenery, may 
well have come into the hearts of these fugitives, and 
accomplished its due ministry to Him, who at all such 
crises in His life, summoned no other angel to His aid 
than some such winged and ready word of Scripture. 
Yet even these high matters cannot have absorbed the 
disciples' attention, where so many pagan sanctuaries broke 

1 Psalm xlii-xliii. The Land of Jordan usually means in the Old Testa 
ment the land across Jordan. The plural Hermons (not Hermonites) must 
refer to the triple peaks of Hermon. If these two identifications hold, 
then the standpoint of the Psalmist is fixed in the corner between Hermon 
and Jordan — the corner where Banias stands. To the two localities men- 
tioned, a third, the Hill Mis'ar, "IJJVD, is placed in apposition. It may 

mean, as it stands in the text, Hill of Littleness. But it may also be a 
proper name ; and it is at least remarkable that in the same neighbour- 
hood there should be two or three names with the same or kindred radicals. 
These are (i) Za'ura, > V often weakens to f (Wright's Comp. 

Grammar, etc., pp. 58, 61); (2) Wady Za'arah, above Banias; (3) 

Khurbet Mezara, \ I suggest that these may be a reminiscence of the 
name of a hill in this district, called Mis'ar ; and surely none other would 
have been put by the Psalmist in apposition to the Hermons. Cheyne 
says: 'To me this appendage to "Hermonim" seems a poetic loss. 
Unless the little mountain has a symbolic meaning I could wish it away.' I 
cannot see this ; the symbolic meanings suggested for Hermonim and 
Mis'ar are all forced, and even if we got a natural one, it would be out of 
place after the literal land of fordan. To employ all as proper names is 
suitable to a lyric. Baethgen's interpretation (following Smend) of the Hill 
of Littleness as equal to Mount Sion in contrast to Mount Hermon, and of 
the three factors, Jordan, Hermon, Sion, as an equivalent to the Holy Land ; 
and his translation, I remember those far from the land of fordan, and th4 
Hermons, far from the little hill, are also forced and very improbable. 



47S The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



the native beauty of the scene with their insolent chal- 
lenge, to all that was best in the Jewish heart. That a 
mere man, however exalted, should have a temple built 

Christ and to k* m > anc * es P ec i a lly by a Jewish prince, had 
the worship filled Jewry with indignation. The little com- 

of Augustus. 

pany of wayfarers must surely have talked of 
this obtrusive sanctuary. It is, therefore, very striking 
that just there and then they emphasised their own 
Master's claims upon the faith of mankind, and that the first 
clear confession of Christ's divine Sonship was made near 
the shrine in which men already worshipped a fellow-man 
as God. These were the two religions which were shortly 
to contest the world — the marble temple covering the 
bust of an Emperor, the group of exiles round the leader 
whom His own people had rejected. They appeared to 
have this in common, that they were centred in indivi- 
duals, that they both responded to the longing of the age 
for some embodiment of authority, that each of them paid 
divine homage to a man. Yet, even on that single point 
of resemblance, there was this distinction between them. 
He in the temple was only an official, the temporary 
symbol of a great power, to-day's dispenser of its largess, 
who to-morrow would be succeeded by another. But the 
little band of fugitives outside clung to their Leader for 
His own eternal sake. He was the Kingdom, He was the 
Religion, everything lay for ever in His character and His 
love. Herod built the temple to Augustus for the same 
reason for which he had paid previous homage to Caesar 
and Antony, or for which his children afterwards ascribed 
divine honours on this same spot to Claudius and Nero — 
because each of these for the moment had all things in his 
gift But it was because they counted all things but loss 



The Jordan Valley 479 



for His sake that the disciples turned there and then to 
Christ, with a love and allegiance that could never be 
transferred to another, any more than God Himself might 
be imagined to yield to a successor in the faith of His 
creatures. And again, while the emperor compelled allegi- 
ance by his rank, his splendour, his power, Christ turned 
that very day from the symbol of all this to seek His king- 
dom by the way of sacrifice and death. Ye know that the 
rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great impose 
their authority upon them. . . . The Son of Man came not 
to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a 
ransom for many. This was a contrast on which Christ 
often dwelt : nowhere can we better value the alternative 
which it presented to that generation, than here at Caesarea 
by the sources of Jordan, where we see the apotheosis of 
the Gentile spirit in the temple raised to an Augustus by 
the flattery of a Herod, and Christ with His few disciples 
turning from it to His Cross and Sacrifice. 

Before we leave this end of the Jordan Valley, we must 
notice one great function which it has performed through- 
out history. Running up into the Lebanons, 
this long hollow is the gate from the north tory of the 
into Palestine, and Banias, which was a for- u PP er J ordan - 
tress as well as a sanctuary, is the key of the gate. It is 
true that the entering in of Hamath, the other end of the 
pass through the Lebanons, is sometimes spoken of as if 
it were the northern entrance into Palestine, but it is 
really only the approach. Here in Dan lay the limit of 
the land of Israel. Beyond were rugged indefensible 
mountain ranges. If we may compare the region with 
one much more extensive, — the Lebanons were to Israel, 
for military purposes, what the mountains of Afghanistan 



480 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



are to India, and the great fortress at Banias below 
Hermon, on the roads to Damascus and up the Beka', has 
a position not unlike that of Peshavvur, near the entrance 
to the Khyber — though by the Syrian fortress there 
flows no river like the Indus. Did an invader come south 
between the Lebanons ? He had to fight here : the battle 
by which Antiochus the Great won Palestine from the 
Ptolemies took place near Paneas. 1 Nor could the 
masters of Palestine hold the Upper Jordan Valley except 
at the same time they held Banias. During the Latin 
Kingdom of Jerusalem the fortress was fiercely contested 
by Frank and Saracen. Did the Franks take it — then the 
rich valley was all theirs. Did the Saracens win it back, 
then the Franks 2 in their castle of Huntn, on the opposite 
hills of Naphtali, were obliged to arrange with them for a 
division of the deep pastures and fields between. And 
in the Ninth Crusade, when an expedition of Louis of 
France conquered all the Jordan Valley, they were 
obliged to retire from it, because they failed to capture 
also the castle of Banias. 8 

It is these frequent illustrations, taken from all parts 
of history, of the impossibility of holding the meadows and 
springs of the Upper Jordan, without also hold- 

Paneas — Dan. . - . . . . 

ing Banias and its castle, which make it seem 
probable that Leshem or Dan was the present Banias, 
and not (in spite of the name) Tell-el-Kadi. If there be 
in this latter name, which is doubtful, some reminiscence 

1 198 B.C. Polybius xvi. 18 ; xxviii. I. 

8 'The lands in the plain belong half to the Franks and half to the 
Moslem, and here is the boundary, called "The Boundary of Dividing."' 
Ibn Jubair (1185 AD.) in Le Strange, Pal. under Moslems. 418. 

a 1253 a.d. De Joinville, Memoirs of Louis IX., Pt. II. One of the most 
stirring accounts in all the Chronicles of the Crusades. 



The Jordan Valley 481 



of the synonymous Dan, 1 then it is possible to suppose 
that we have here, what we have in so many other cases, 
the transference of a name, a few miles from its original 
site. On all other appearances than the shadowy name, 
Banias, and not Tell-el-Kadi, is the ancient capital of the 
Danites, the northern limit of the land of Israel. 

The rest of this plain is of little interest. The Lake 
of Huleh is, without doubt, the Lake Semechonitis of 
Josephus, 2 and probably also the waters of 

Lake Huleh. 

Merom of the Book of Joshua. 3 The open 
water is thickly surrounded by swamps and jungles of the 
papyrus reed. 4 From the lower end of the lake, the 
Jordan enters the Great Rift below the level of the sea. 
It descends a narrow gorge in one almost continuous 
cascade, falling 680 feet in less than nine miles, and then 
through a delta of its own deposits glides quietly into 
the Lake of Galilee. Six miles above the lake it is 
crossed by the Bridge of the Daughters of Jacob, on 
the high road between Damascus and Galilee. 5 

1 Kadi = Dan = Judge. 

8 v. Antt. v. 1 ; iii. Wars, x. 7 ; iv. Wars, i. 1. 

3 Josh. xi. 5, 6. The name 'The Height' is suitable for a lake so fa* 
above the Lake of Galilee ; the neighbourhood is possible for chariots 
The word 'waters,' however, scarcely suits a lake, and we have really no 
means of ideniifying the scene of Joshua's victory. The Onomasticon puts 
the water of Meppav near Dothan, twelve Roman miles from Sebaste. The 
origin of the name Huleh is unknown. The Lake might be easily drained ; 
almost as easily it might be extended, as it seems once to have been, to 
the limits of the plain ; cf. Quaresmius, Elucid. Terr. Sanct. 11. vii. ch. xii. 
fol. 872. Huleh is the same name as Ulatha (see p. 541), and the HD" 1 
Nrfom of the Talmud, Neubauer, Geog. du Talmud, 24, 27 ff. 

4 The best account of the lake and its surroundings is in Macgregor'sitW 
Roy on the Jordan. 

5 See p. 427. For the country between Huleh and the Lake of Galilee 
see Schumacher, Z.D.P. V. xiii. # 



2H 



482 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



II. The Lower Jordan : The Ghor. 

From the Lake of Galilee to the Dead Sea the Jordan 
Valley is sixty-five miles long. Down the west are the 
mountains of Galilee and Samaria, with the 

Divisions and 

names of the great break between them of the Vale of 
Jezreel. They stand from 800 to 1500 feet 
above the valley floor, with higher ranges behind. On 
the other side run the hills of Gilead, their long flat 
edge some 2000 feet above Jordan, and broken only by 
the incoming valleys of the Yarmuk and Jabbok. Be- 
tween these two ranges the valley varies in breadth from 
three to fourteen miles. For thirteen miles south of the 
lake the breadth is hardly more than four, then it ex- 
pands to six or seven in the Plain of Bethshan, which rises 
by terraces towards the level of Esdraelon. Ten miles 
south of Bethshan the Samarian hills press eastward, 
and for the next thirteen the river runs closely by their 
feet, and the valley is three miles wide. Again the 
Samarian hills withdraw, and the valley widens first to 
eight miles and then gradually to fourteen, which is the 
breadth at Jericho. What we have, therefore, between 
Galilee and the Dead Sea is a long narrow vale twice 
expanding — at Bethshan and Jericho — to the dimensions 
of a plain. The Old Testament bestows on it both of 
the Hebrew names for valley — Deep and Opening. 1 
Greek writers call it the Aulon or Hollow, 2 and Arabs 

1 pDy of the southern end, Josh. xiii. 27 ; iiyp3 of the north end under 
Hermon, Josh. xi. 17 (LXX. IleSJa) ; Josh. xii. 7 (LXX. UeSLov), and of the 
southern end at Jericho, Deut. xxxiv. 3. 

8 AvX&v. So, e.g. Diod. Sic. ii. 48. 9 ; xix. 98. 4 ; Theophrastus, Hist 
Plant, ii. 6. 8 ; ix. 6. I ; Dioscorides i. 18. 



The Jordan Valley 483 



El-Gh6r, or the Rift. 1 But Josephus twice gives it the 
name of the ' Great Plain,' which he also applies to 
Esdraelon. 2 

A large part of this valley is of exuberant fertility, and, 
as we shall presently see, the whole of it might be culti- 
vated. The Jordan itself runs in too deep a Fertility of 
channel to be easily useful for irrigation, but the Gh6r - 
a number of its affluents from both sides offer abundant 
moisture during the greater part of the year. Some of 
these springs and brooks, rising far below the level of 
the ocean, and in soil impregnated with chlorides and 
sodium, are bitter and often warm. In many parts there 
are mounds and ridges of grey marl, salt and greasy, with 
stretches of gravel, sand, clay, and other debris of an old 
sea-bottom, that assume the weirdest shapes, and give a 
desolate aspect to the vale. But notwithstanding all this 
poison, vegetation is extremely rank, especially in spring. 
The heat is of a forcing-house. Wherever water comes, 
the flowers rise to the knee, and herbage often to the 
shoulder. 3 The drier stretches are covered by broom or 
intricate thorn-bush ; by all the streams there are brakes 
of cane and oleander. The streams dash violently down to 
the Jordan, tearing up the surface of the country by their 
spring floods and heaping across flowers and grass the 

2 Once in its whole extent, iv. Wars, viii. 2 : rb /itya. vediov KaKelrat dxb 
k<jo/j.7)s Tiwafipiv (at the south end of the Lake of Galilee) dirjKov fxtxpt- T V* 
'Acr^aXWriSos ; and once at Jericho, iv. Antt. vi. I, iiri rbv 'lopdavr/v 

Kara rb fxtya iredLov 'lepixoupros avriicpti. It is probably to the Jordan Valley 
that the same name refers in I Mace. v. 52, though it may be the beginning 
of Esdraelon that is meant. It was, perhaps, in such an ambiguity that the 
name was transferred from Esdraelon, which it wholly suits, to the Jordan 
Valley, that is not so accurately described by it. In 1 Mace. xvi. n, tI 
tredlov 'leptx^. 3 Conder, T. W. 225-228. 



484 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



loosened marl and the ruin of cane-brake. Swamps 
abound, and there is much malaria. Towards Jericho 
the vegetation grows less and less rank — a plain of thorn- 
groves with a swamp or two, and then the ground breaks 
away, discoloured or crusted with salt, and bearing only 
a few succulent plants, to the shingly beach and blue 
waters of the Dead Sea. Although there is so much 
fertility, the stretches of sour soil, the unhealthy jungle, 
the obtrusive marl, and the parched hillsides out of reach 
of the streams, justify the Hebrew name of the 'Arabafr 
or Desert. 1 In the New Testament also the Valley is 
called a Wilderness. 2 

Down this broad valley there curves and twists a 
deeper, narrower bed — perhaps 150 feet deeper, 3 and 
from 200 yards to a mile broad. Its banks are mostly 
The Pride °^ wn ^ e marl, and within these it is packed 
of Jordan. w fth tamarisks and other semi-tropical trees 
and tangled bush. To those who look down from the 
hills along any great stretch of the valley, this Zor, as it 
is called, trails and winds like an enormous green serpent, 
more forbidding in its rankness than any open water 
could be, however foul or broken. This jungle marks the 
Jordan's wider bed, the breadth to which the river rises 
when in flood. In the Old Testament it appears as the 
Pride of Jordan, and always as a symbol of trouble and 
danger. Though in a land of peace thou be secure, what 
wilt thou do in the Pride of Jordan ? He shall come up like 
a lion from the Pride of Jordan* It was long supposed 
that this referred to the spring floods of the river, and it 

1 rQ*iy also in the plural in connection with certain districts. The 
'Araboth of Moab and of Jericho. 2 Mark i. cf. 4 and 5. 

3 Conder reckons 150 feet deeper at Beisan, T.W. 215 ; and 200 feet a! 
Jericho, ib. 216. 4 Jer. xii. 5 ; xlix. 19 ; 1. 44. 



The Jordan Valley 485 



is given in the English version as swelling, but the word 
means pride, and as one text speaks of the pride of 
Jordan being spoiled} the phrase most certainly refers to 
the jungle, whose green serpentine ribbon looks so rich 
from the hills above. In that case we ought to translate 
it the luxuriance or rankness of Jordan. Though lions 
have ceased from the land, this jungle is still a covert for 
wild beasts, and Jeremiah's contrast of it with a land oj 
peace is even more suitable to a haunted jungle than to 
an inundation. But it is floods which have made the 
rankness, they fill this wider bed of Jordan every year; 2 
and the floor of the jungle is covered with deposits of 
mud and gravel, with dead weed, driftwood and the 
exposed roots of trees. 

Penetrating this unhealthy hollow you come soon to 
the Jordan itself. Remember that it is but a groove in 
the bottom of an old sea-bed, a ditch as deep The river _ 
below the level of the ocean as some of our bed - 
coal-mines are, and you will be prepared for the uncouth- 
ness of the scene. There is no yellow marl by the river 
itself. Those heaps and ridges, which in higher parts of 
the valley look like nothing but the refuse of a chemical 
manufactory, have here all been washed away. But there 
are hardly less ugly mudbanks, from two to twenty-five 
feet high, with an occasional bed of shingle, that is not 
clean and sparkling as in our own rivers, but foul with 
ooze and slime. Dead driftwood is everywhere in sight. 
Large trees lie about, overthrown : and the exposed roots 
and lower trunks of the trees still standing are smeared 

1 Zech. xi. 3. 

2 Jordan overfloweth his banks all the time of harvest, i.e. in April, Josh, 
iii. iv. 'Abound as Jordan in the time of harvest,' Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 26. 



486 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



with mud, except where they have been recently torn by 
passing wreckage. There are, however, some open spaces, 
where the river flashes to the hills above and an easy path 
is possible to its edge. But in the lower reaches this is 
mostly where the earth is too salt to sustain vegetation, 
and so it may be said that the Jordan sweeps to the 
Dead Sea through unhealthy jungle relieved only by 
poisonous soil. 

The river itself is from 90 to 100 feet broad, a rapid, 
muddy water with a zigzag current. The depth varies 
from 3 feet at some fords 1 to as much as 10 or 12. In 
the sixty-five miles the descent is 610 feet, or an average 

• of 9 feet a mile — not a great fall, for the Spey, 

The river. J v 7 ' 

and the Dee from Balmoral to Aberdeen both 
average about 14 feet a mile. But near the Lake of 
Galilee the fall is over 40 feet a mile, 2 and this impetus 
given to a large volume of water, down a channel in which 
it cannot sprawl, and few rocks retard, induces a great 
rapidity of current. This has given the river its name : 
Jordan means the Down-comer. The swiftness is rendered 
more dangerous by the muddy bed and curious zigzag 
current which will easily sweep a man from the side into 
the centre of the stream. In April, as we have seen, the 
waters rise to the wider bed, but for the most part of the 
year they keep to the channel of 90 feet Here, with in- 
frequent interruptions of shingle, mostly silent and black 
in spite of its speed, but now and then breaking into praise 
and whitening into foam, Jordan scours along, muddy 

1 M. Le Strange crossed after heavy rain at a ford near Beisan, where the 
water 'scarcely reached the bellies of the horses.' A Ride through Ajlun % 
etc., appended to Schumacher's Across the Jordan. 

% Conder, T.W. 215. 



The Jordan Valley 487 



between banks of mud, careless of beauty, careless of life, 
intent only upon its own work, which for ages by the 
decree of the Almighty has been that of separation. 

Most rivers, in valleys so wide and well watered, mean 
the presence of great cities, or at least of much cultivation. 
But the valley of the Jordan never seems 

J Fertility and 

to have been a populous place. 1 Some towns population of 

M the valley. 

were built in it, and gardens were numerous. 
Jericho, we have seen, 2 was a very flourishing region^ 
especially in the hands of the Romans who knew how to 
irrigate. There seems to have been a continuous forest of 
palms all the way hence to Phasaelis. 3 Farther up the 
valley at Kurawa, there are fertile fields, and the richness 
of the country round Bethshan is evident. 4 The whole of 
this side of the valley was famed, throughout the ancient 
world, for its corn, dates, balsam, 5 flax and other products. 6 
The early Christian pilgrims also lavish praise: the Arab 
geographers of the eighth to the twelfth centuries imply 
that there is still fertility in the Ghor, They speak 
especially of the sugar of Bethshan and Kurawa ; and 
the Crusaders found sugar growing in Jericho. 7 On the 
eastern side of the valley there was the large town of 

1 Cf. Pliny, H.N. v. 15 : 'accolis invitum se praebet' 

8 Ch. xiii. p. 266. 3 See p. 354. 4 Josephus. 

h Cf. Le Strange, op. cit. 270. 

6 Polybius, v. 70, says that the district between Bethshan and the Lake 
of Galilee could support an army, and there we know Vespasian settled 
his Legions. On the balsam, Diodorus Siculus ii. 48. 9, xix. 98. 4. 
Dioscorides i. 18. On the dates and general fertility of Jericho, Archelais 
and Phasaelis, Pliny, H.N. v. 15 (14), Strabo xvi. ii. 41. For the linen of 
Bethshan, etc., the anonymous Totius Orbis Descriptio in the Geogr. Gr. 
minoresy Ed. Muller, ii. 513 ff. 

7 Cf. Le Strange's Pal. under Mosle?n, 53. Rey, Les Colon. Franquts % 
p. 386. The name 1 sugar-mills ' still attaches to some ruins at Jericho. 



488 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Livias or Julias opposite Jericho, 1 immediately north of 
that some smaller towns, with the city of Adam perhaps 
at the present Tell Damieh and Succoth at Tell Der'ala, 
but after these, till the Yarmuk is reached, nothing except 
some nameless villages, — unless Pella, which lay on the first 
terraces above the Valley, be reckoned to the latter. The 
great number of mounds, some of which have been found 
to consist of sun-dried bricks, 2 are probably the remains 
not of cities but of old brick-fields. The clay of the Jordan 
Valley was good for moulding, and Solomon placed in it 
his brass foundries for the building of the Temple. 3 But, 
from this absence of cities on the east of the Jordan, it 
must not be supposed that the land is not cultivable. Be- 
tween the Yarmuk and Pella, sufficient streams break from 
Gilead to irrigate the whole region, the remains of ancient 
aqueducts are visible, and even, without elaborate irrigation, 
the few small villages reap to-day good harvests of grain. 4 
All up the east of the river, you come across patches of 
cultivation, the property of various Bedawee tribes on the 

1 On the site of Beth-haram or Beth-haran (Josh. xiii. 27 ; Num. xxxii. 36) 
the pr)dap&[A<pda of Josephus (ii. Wars, iv. 2) where Herod had a palace ; 
(3i]9pdiJ.(pda, according to Euseb. but Jerome spells Betharam (Onomasticon). 
He says it was called Livias by Herod, i.e. Antipas, in honour of the wife of 
Augustus, but Josephus states that its name was Julias (xviii. Antt. ii. 1 ; ii. 
Wars, ix. 1). Livias was the older name, as the Emperor's wife was re- 
ceived into the gens Julia only by his testament (see Schiirer, Hist. II. i. 142). 
Placidus, a lieutenant of Vespasian, held it in 68 f. (iv. Wars, vii. 6 ; viii. 2). 
Theodosius, a.d. 530, De Situ Terrae Sanctae, 65 {P.P. 7. p. 14) describes it 
as twelve miles from Jericho near warm springs. He also calls it Livias. It 
is the present Tell er-Rameh. 

2 By Sir Charles Warren. See Conder, T. W. 220,221. 

8 This was, of course, in the west of Jordan at Zarthan, 1 Kings vii. 46. 
}m¥ probably the Zarthan of Josh. iii. 16, beside the city of Adam. 

4 We passed over this district in 1891, and were surprised at the many signs 
of cultivation, the great piles of corn in the few villages, and the old aque 
ducts ; cf. Pella, 18, 19. 



The Jordan Valley 



489 



highlands to the east. 1 The dews are as heavy as in other 
parts of the land : the heat is tropical. The ' Arabah, then, 
in spite of its name, was once very largely cultivated, and 
by simple methods of irrigation, drawn from the affluents 
of the Jordan, might again become a rich and fruitful 
land. 2 The opening of the railway to Bethshan may 
be the beginning of another era, like that in which the 
fame of the fruits of the Jordan went out over the world. 2 
Under a good Government dates, rice, sugar, flax, cotton 
and many more commodities might be grown in great 
abundance. 

Why, then, have towns always been so few in the 
valley ? and why has it so much deserved the name of 
wilderness? The reasons are three. From The great 
early spring to late autumn the heat is intoler- heaL 
able, and parches all vegetation not constantly watered. 
At Pella and opposite Jericho we found the temperature 
in July at 104 ; it has been known to rise in August to 
118 . 4 The Arabs of the Ghor, the Ghawarineh, are a 
sickly and degenerate race. It is not to be wondered at, 
that the Israelites who possessed the hills on either side 
should prefer to build their cities there, descending to the 
valley only for the purposes of sowing and reaping their 
harvests. This is what many Samarian villages now do, 5 as 
well as the Bedouin of Moab and the peasants of Gilead. 

1 For the northern end, see Schumacher, The Jaulan, p. 148. The 'Adwan 
cultivate, or have cultivated for them, some parts of the southern valley. When 
we visited their main camp near Heshbon, 'Ali Diab, their chief, with a 
number of the men were absent securing their grain in the Jordan Valley. 

2 Cf. Le Strange, op. cit. 270. 

8 The present Sultan of Turkey has bought, for his private estate, a very 
large part of the valley. We met his servants in several parts of it. 

* Conder, T, W. 

* Cf. Robinson. L.R. So we found with the 'Ad wan Bedouin, 



490 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Again, in ancient times the valley was infested with wild 
beasts. The extirpation of these formed one of the most 

The wild serious difficulties in Israel's conquest of the 

beasts. country. 1 But their covert and stronghold was 
the jungle of the Jordan ; driven from the rest of the 
land they were secure here, and bred so fast that, as soon 
as any of the neighbouring provinces was deprived of its 
population, they quickly overran it. 2 Of these, lions are 
the most often mentioned in the Old Testament. 3 There 
are no lions to-day, — the last of them was seen eight 
hundred years ago, 4 — but wild boars abound, and there 
are leopards and a kind of wolf. 6 

A still more serious hindrance to the settlement of 
population in the Jordan Valley was the frequency with 
which it was overrun by the Arabs. There 

The Arabs. 

were no towns on the level of Esdraelon ; there 
were none in the 'Arabah, and in both cases for the same 
reason, that no strong site existed in either of these 
channels capable of resisting the desert swarms which 
poured through them. Even the Herods did not attempt 
to fortify Archelais or Phasaelis, which were only villages ; 
and neither Jericho nor Bethshan ever successfully sus- 
tained a siege. 

We must, therefore, seek for the role of this valley in 
history, in another direction than that along which its 
possible fertility points us. We find it in two functions : 

(i) The Jordan was a border and barrier. We have seen 

1 Deut. vii. 22 ; xxxii. 24 ; Lev. xxvi. 6, 22 ; cf. Gen. xxxi. 39, thai 
which was torn of beasts ; Exod. xxii. 31 ; Lev. vii. 24; xvii. 15 ; xxii. 8 j 
Amos v. 19 ; Hosea ii. 18 ; xiii. 7 f. ; Isa. xi. 6 f., etc. 

2 2 Kings xvii. 25. 3 Ibid. ; Jer. xlix. 19. 

4 Many early pilgrims speak of them ; the last was the Abbot Daniel, 
1 100. B Conder saw a wolf, T. IV. 



The Jordan Valley 



491 



how the river itself tells us this by the depth of its 
valley, its unuseful, unlovely course, its muddy banks 
and their rank jungle. And so we find it appreciated in 
literature. With few exceptions the references to Jordan 
in the Old Testament are geographical and 

Jordan in the 

prosaic; the Psalmist hears in it no music; oidiesta- 
the prophet speaks only of its rankness and 
danger ; it excites the ridicule of those who know its 
sister Syrian rivers ; 1 the exiles by Babel's streams think 
not upon Jordan's rush of water but upon the arid 
Jerusalem ; and when a symbol is needed of the water of 
life the Psalmist ignores his country's only river, and 
floods for his purpose the dry bed of the Kedron. 2 Jordan 
was only a boundary, a line to traverse, and, in nearly all 
of the texts in which the name occurs, it is governed by a 
preposition, unto, over, across? 

It is difficult to estimate the military value of such a 
frontier. Like other border rivers the Jordan has been 
often and easily crossed, but, unlike them, there As a m iij tary 
do not appear to have been — below the Lake frontier - 
of Galilee at least — any serious attempts to defend it. 
In the time of the Judges the fords were watched to 
prevent the escape of fugitives, 4 and once the Maccabees 
had a battle on the river. 5 But, in the greatest invasion 
of all, Israel crossed unopposed, and in her turn offered no 

1 2 Kings iv. 

2 There is a river whose streams do glad the city of our God, Ps. xlvi. 

' Jordan as a border, Gen. xxxii. 10 ; Deut. iii. 20 ; xxvii. 4 ; Josh. i. 2 ; 
Num. xxxiv. 10-12. It is Ezekiel's border, xlvii. 18. 

4 Judges vii. 24, by Ephraim against Midian ; xii. 5, by Gilead against 
Ephraim. 

6 Circa 160; 1 Mace. ix. 32-49. The tactics are not clear. The fight 
seems to have been on the west bank, and the only use of the river was that 
made by the Jewish troops in swimming it so as to escape from the Syrians. 



492 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



opposition on Jordan either to Syrians, who came over 
just below the lake, or to Arabs or Moabites farther south. 
David did not seek to check Absalom's crossing, nor the 
Byzantines that of the Arabs, nor the Crusaders that of 
Saladin, nor Napoleon that of the Turks. 1 Nor was the 
Arab drift into Western Palestine ever checked by the 
river, but only by a settled government to the east of 
it. In short, at no period whatsoever has the eastern 
defence of the land been laid down along Jordan ; nor 
has the river been always a boundary between different 
states. Northern Israel lay on both sides of it, and in 
later days Perea was counted with Judaea. Is then the 
frontier influence of Jordan entirely a reflection of the 
spiritual symbolism to which subsequent events exalted 
the river ? This can hardly be said to be so in face of the 
following facts. Moses dreaded the separation that Jordan 
would cause between the tribes left to the east of it and 
those who crossed. 2 To early Israel the crossing of Jordan 
was as great a crisis as the crossing of the Red Sea. 3 
When David was made King in Hebron, it was Eastern 
Palestine which Abner chose for the rallying of Israel 
round Saul's house, 4 and David himself fled there when 
Absalom raised Judah against him. 6 There are a hundred 
other passages in the Old Testament, taken from the 
everyday speech of the people, which prove how separating 
an influence they felt in that deep gulf with its super- 

1 That is below the Lake of Galilee. On the north, where the Turks had 
crossed by the Jisr Benat Jakob and besieged Safed, Murat raised the siege 
and drove them across the river again, and on the south all the fighting was 
done west of Jordan, at the heights of Lubieh and then on Esdraelon. The 
Turkish army, however, was cut off from Damascus after it crossed Jordan, 
and found a new base at Nablus. 

2 Num. xxxii. 6 ff. * Ps. cxiv. 3, etc 
4 2 Sam. ii. 8 ff. » Id. xv.. xvi. 



The Jordan Valley 493 



heated airs, its jungle and its rapid river. 1 And we have 
but to compare the Jordan with another river which 
flows in a line with itself, the Orontes, to see that, from 
whatever reason, the former was a real, effective frontier 
between the nomad and the agriculturist, between east 
and west, to a degree never reached by the latter. Perhaps 
this effectiveness did not consist so much in shutting out 
invaders from the East as in giving to such of them as 
drifted over the river a visible and impressive reason why 
they should not return. All down Israel's history it is 
certain that the people knew themselves to be cut off 
from the East, that their land felt under them no more a 
part of Arabia, and that they themselves trod it with the 
consciousness of another and a higher destiny than that 
of the Arab tribes from whom they finally broke away 
when they passed over Jordan. In this moral effect upon 
the national consciousness the Jordan and its strange 
valley exerted an influence, beside which mere military 
strength, if it had been present, would have been quite 
insignificant. 

(2) Jordan has not only been associated with the figures 
of two of Israel's greatest prophets — Elijah and John the 
Baptist — but with the bestowal, at their hands, of the 
Spirit upon their successors. 

We are not to be surprised that as his end approached 
Elijah should feel himself driven towards 
that border, across which he had first burst EHshaon 1 
so mysteriously upon Israel, 2 and to which he J ordan- 
had withdrawn while waiting for his word to accomplish 

1 The frequency of the phrase across Jordan, and such names as the 
Mountains of the 'Abarim, i.e. Those on the other side. 

3 He was from Thisbe, undiscovered, in Gilead. In I Kings xvii. i read 
with the LXX. and Hebrew text, Elijahs the Tishbite from Tis hb$ of Gilea 



494 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



itself. 1 Stage by stage he came down from the high centre 
of the land to its lowest, lonely, crumbling shelves. 2 Tarry 
here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to Beth-el . . . to 
Jericho . . . to Jordan. But at each stage Elisha said, 
As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave 
thee ; and when the little communities of prophets came 
out and said, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy 
master from thy head to-day ? he answered, / also know it, 
hold ye your peace. So these two, leaving the sons of the 
prophets behind, passed down the falling land as the great 
planets pass to their setting through the groups of lesser 
stars. The mountains of The-Other-Side filled the view 
ahead of them, and in these mountains lay the sepulchre 
of Moses. He, who in his helplessness had already fled 
for new inspiration to Horeb, could not fail to wonder 
whether God was to lay him to rest beside his forerunner 
on Nebo. In front there was no promised land visible — 
nothing but that high sky-line eastward with the empty 
heaven above it Behind there was no nation waiting to 
press into the future — nothing but that single follower 
who persisted in following to the end. And so, the story 
tells us, the end came. The river that had drawn back at 
a nation's feet, parted at the stroke of one man, and as he 
suddenly passed away to the God from whom he had 
suddenly come, it was one man whom he acknowledged 
as his heir, and to whom he left his spirit. Realise these 

1 I Kings xvii. 3, Turn thee, eastward and hide thyself by the brook Kerith, 
which is on jace of Jordan. This last phrase, which in conformity with 
Hebrew terms of orientation, we must translate east of Jordan, excludes the 
Wady Kelt behind Jericho, and Kerith must be sought for in Gilead, where, 
however, the name has not yet been discovered. 

2 2 Kings ii. The Gilgal is not that beside Jericho, but that near the high 
road between Bethel and Shechem, the present Jiljilia, 2441 feet above the 
sea and over 3700 above Jordan. 



The Jordan Valley 495 



two lonely figures standing in that unpeopled wilderness, 
the state invisible, the Church left behind in impotent 
gaze and wonder, and nothing passing between these two 
men except from the one the tribute to personal worth, 
and from the other the influence of personal spirit and 
force — realise all this on the lonely bank of Jordan, and 
you understand the beginnings of prophecy — the new dis- 
pensation in which the instrument of the Most High was to 
be not the State and its laws, not the army and its victories, 
not even the Church and her fellowship, but the spirit of the 
individual man. Not in vain does the story tell us that it 
was with his mantle, symbol above all things of the Prophet, 
that Elijah smote the waters, and that Elisha smote them 
the second time on his return to his ministry. Jordan, 
that had owned the People of God, owns now the Prophet. 

Elisha is represented as the first in Israel to employ the 
river for sacramental purposes. He said unto Naaman 
the leper, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh 
shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. We do 
not again read of Jordan being thus used. 

(3) It must have been these two events which determined 
John the Baptist's choice of the theatre of his ministry, 
He found here both of his requisites, solitude j ohn the Bap 
and much water. He found also 'ihose vivid tlst in J ordan 
figures of his preaching — the slimy shingle, of which he said, 
God is able to raise up of these stones children to A braham ; 
the trees with the axe laid to their roots, for the Jordan 
jungle was a haunt of woodcutters ; 1 and, on the higher 
stretches of the valley, the fires among the dry scrub 
chasing before them the scorpions and vipers. 2 But chiefly 

1 Cf. 2 Kings vi. 1 ff. 

8 Cf. on some of these and others, Stanley, Sin. and PaL 



496 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



must it have been the memories of Elijah and Elisha 
which came upon John and the crowds that listened to 
him. Israel's only river had by these prophets been 
consecrated to the two acts most symbolic of religion — 
the washing by water and the gift of the Spirit. And 
now where Elisha bade Naaman bathe his leprosy away, 
John called on Israel to wash and be clean : where Elijah 
bequeathed his spirit, ere he was lifted from earth, John, 
too, towards the close of his ministry, was to meet and 
own his successor. But it was no Elisha who came to 
take his sign from this second Elijah. There cometh He 
that is mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes 
I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have 
baptized you with water, but He shall baptize you with the 
Holy Ghost. . . . And fesus was baptized of fohn in fordan, 
and straightway coming up out of the water he saw the 
heavens rending, and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon 
Him; and there came a voice from heaven, Thou art My 
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased? 

And so what was never a great Jewish river has become 
a very great Christian one. 

1 The place of our Saviour's baptism is quite uncertain. The traditional 
site is at the Makhadet Hajle. The Bethabara, where the Baptist is said 
by some mss. of the Gospel of John (i. 28) to have been baptizing about the 
time that Jesus came to him, is placed by Conder at the ford 'Abarah, just 
north of Beisan (71 W. 230). But it must be kept in mind that a name like 
that, meaning ferry, or crossing, or ford (see p. 337), probably occurred 
more than once down the river. The other, and more authentic reading, 
Bethany, is offered by Conder as a proof of the nearness of the place of baptism 
to Bashan. There is, however, no argument, only a suggestion. On the 
other hand, the proofs which the author of Supernatural Religion bases on the 
word Bethany against the Evangelist's knowledge of Palestine only reveal 
his own ignorance both of the possibilities of the country in which many 
Bethanys may easily have lain, and of the rest of the Gospel, the writer 
of which expressly states that he knew the other Bethany near Jerusalem 
(xi. iS). 



CHAPTER XXIII 
THE DEAD SEA 



For this Chapter consult Maps III. atid IV, 



THE DEAD SEA 



ERHAPS there is no region of our earth where 



J- Nature and History have more cruelly conspired, 
where so tragic a drama has obtained so awful a theatre. 
In many other parts of the world the effect of historical 
catastrophes has been heightened by their occurrence 
amid scenes of beauty and peace. It is otherwise here. 
Nature, when she has not herself been, by some volcanic 
convulsion, the executioner of God's judgments, has added 
every aggravation of horror to the cruelty of the human 
avenger or the exhaustion of the doomed. The history of 
the Dead Sea opens with Sodom and Gomorrah, and may 
be said to close with the Massacre of Masada. 

The previous chapter has described the formation of the 
Jordan Valley, by the enclosure of a bit of the ocean-bed, 
between two great folds of the earth's surface, The Dead Sea 
and by a subsequent depression to the present valley - 
great depth below the level of the sea. Of this extra- 
ordinary Rift or Sink, as it might fitly be called, the Dead 
Sea occupies the fifty-three deepest miles, with an average 
breadth of nine to ten. The surface is 1290 feet below 
the level of the Mediterranean, but the bottom is as deep 
again, soundings having been taken to 1300 feet. This is 
at the north-east corner, under the hills of Moab, and 
not far from the entrance of the Jordan ; thence the bed 
shelves rapidly upwards, till the whole of the south end 




500 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



of the sea is only from 8 to 14 feet in depth. 1 These 
figures, however, vary from year to year, and after a very 
rainy season the sea will be even as much as 1 5 feet deeper, 
and at the southern end more than a mile longer. 2 

The Dead Sea receives, besides the Jordan, four or five 
smaller streams, but has no issue or relief for its waters, 
Thesaimess except through evaporation. This is raised 
of the Sea. tQ enormous proportions by the fervent heat 
which prevails in the sunken valley during the greater 
part of the year. The extracted moisture usually forms 
a haze impenetrable to the eye for more than a few miles, 
but sometimes vast columns of mist rear themselves from 
the sea, heavy clouds are formed above, and thunder- 
storms, the more violent for their narrow confines, rage, 
as the torn coasts testify, with lightning and floods of 
rain. To the everlasting evaporation is due the bitter- 
ness of the sea: All rivers contain some salts, and 
all lakes without issue to the ocean become, in conse- 
quence, more or less briny. But the streams which feed 
the Dead Sea are unusually saline ; they flow through 
nitrous soil, and they are fed by sulphurous springs. 
Chemicals, too, have been found in the water of the 
sea, which are not traceable in its tributaries, and pro- 
bably are introduced by hot springs in the sea bottom. 3 
Along the shores are deposits of sulphur and petroleum 

1 The western side is, as a rule, much shallower than the eastern. A few 
years ago the south end was fordable even as far north as the Lisan (Burck- 
hardt, Travels ; Robinson, B.R. ii,). This and the submergence of an old 
jetty at the north end prove that for a long time the volume of the sea has been 
increasing. (See p. 471.) 

a Robinson, B.R. ii. 672, says that after heavy rain the marshes at the south 
end of the Dead Sea are covered by water to the extent of two or three miles. 

' E.g., Bromine. Burckhardt was told that at the former ford across the 
sea the bottom waters felt, warm to the feet. 



The Dead Sea 



springs. The surrounding strata are rich in bituminous 
matter, and after earthquakes lumps of bitumen are so 
often found floating on the water as to justify its ancient 
name of Asphaltitis. 1 At the south-east end a ridge of 
rock-salt, 300 feet high, runs for five miles, elsewhere there 
are deep saline deposits, and the bed of the sea appears 
to be covered with salt crystals. 2 To all these solid 
ingredients, then, precipitated and concentrated by the 
constant evaporation, the Dead Sea owes its extreme 
bitterness and buoyancy. While the water of the ocean 
contains from 4 to 6 per cent, of solids in solution, the 
Dead Sea holds from 24 to 26 per cent, or five times as 
much. 3 The water is very nauseous to the taste and oily 
to the touch, leaving on the skin, when it dries, a thick 
crust of salt. But it is very brilliant. Seen from far 
away no lake on earth looks more blue and beautiful. 
Swim out upon it, and at a depth of 20 feet you can 

1 Bitumen is petroleum hardened by evaporation and oxidation. Dawson, 
Mod. Science in Bible Lands, 487 f. The bituminous limestone, which burns 
like bright coal (cf. Burckhardt, Syria, 394), is the so-called Dead-Sea stone 
from which articles are made and offered for sale in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. 
The floating lumps probably are from petroleum springs in the sea-bed. 
These springs were evidently more common in ancient times than now. Gen. 
xiv. 10 says the Vale of Siddim was wells, wells, i.e. full of wells, of bitumen, 

"l£n nilSn nnSS3. The Arabs still call the bitumen hommar, 

Burckhardt, Syria, 394 ; Strabo xvi. 2. 42 ; Diod. Sic. ii. 48 j xix. 98 ; 
Josephus (iv. Wars, viii. 4) and Pliny {H.N. v. 16) describe the sea as eject- 
ing bitumen or asphalt. See also the following modern travellers : Burck- 
hardt, Syria, 394 ; Robinson, B.R. ii. 228-230. In the earthquakes of 1834 
and 1837 large masses of bitumen were cast ashore ; Lynch, Narrative, 303 ; 
etc., etc. 

2 The salt ridge is the Jebel, or Hashm, Usdum, see Robinson, B.R. ii. 
206 ff. 481. The Arabs take salt from this and from the Lisan on the othei 
side. All dredging brings up crystals of salts. 

3 Hull (work cited below) gives for the Atlantic 6 lbs. of salt in 100 of water, 
for the Dead Sea, 24-57. Cf. the sets of analyses in Robinson, B.R. ii. 224, by 
Dr. Marcet, Gav-Lus«ac, etc., and by Hull, P.E.F. Survey Mem. Geol. p 121. 



502 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



count the pebbles through the transparent waters. The 
buoyancy of the Dead Sea is well known ; it is difficult to 
sink the limbs deep enough for swimming ; if you throw 
a stick on the surface, it seems to rest there as on a mirror, 
so little of it actually penetrates the water. The surface 
is generally smooth, the heavy water rises not easily ; 
but when in storm it does rise, the waves are immensely 
powerful. Lieutenant Lynch describes them beating on 
the bow of his boat like the blows of a sledge-hammer. 1 
No fish can exist in the waters, nor is it proved that any 
low forms of life have been discovered. 2 

These bitter and imprisoned waters, that are yet so 
blue and brilliant, chafe a low beach of gravel, varied by 
The marl or salted marsh. Twice on the western 

sea-beach. S ^ Q moun t a in cliffs come down to the 
water's edge, and on the eastern coast there is a curious 
peninsula called El-Lisan, or The Tongue, though the 
shape is more that of a spurred boot. This is formed of 
steep banks of marl, from forty to sixty feet high, 3 that 

1 On the water of the Dead Sea, see P.E.F. Gcolog. Memoir by Hull, pt. v. 
ch. i. ; Dawson, Mod, Science in Bible Lands, 472 ff. ; Lartet, Le Met 
Morte\ Lynch, Narrative. 

2 On my first visit I found on the north shore some fish swimming in a 
small pool that was separated from the sea only by a bar of gravel two feet 
wide, and was almost indistinguishable in taste. Yet when they were put 
into the sea they gasped a few times and turned over dead. Galen, de Simpl. 
Med. iv. c. 19 (quoted by Reland) : (paiverai iv e/cetvy r<£ vdari /xt]T€ ftov 
eyy iyv 6 ixevbv- rt, /j.rjre (pvrov. The story that birds cannot fly over the sea 
('neque pisces aut suetas aquis volucres patitur ;' Tacitus, Hist. v. 6), is, of 
course, legendary. Robinson remarks that the absence of water-fowl is due to 
the absence of fish, B.R. 226. The multitude of shells are not land-shells, and 
cannot be explained as having all come down the Jordan and other streams. 
Perhaps they date from the time that the sea was a fresh-water lake. See p. 470. 

* Lynch, Narrative^ p. 297 : 1 A bold, broad promontory, from 40 to 60 
feet high, ... a broad margin of sand at its foot, incrusted with salt and 
bitumen, the perpendicular face extending all round, and presenting the 
coarse and chalky appearance of recent carbonate of lime. ' 



The Dead Sea 



503 



shine over the blue waters like the long white walls of an 
iceberg. Everywhere else is the gravel, as clean and fair 
in appearance as the waters which lave it. But the gravel 
is crowned with an almost constant hedge of driftwood, 
every particle of which is stripped of bark and bleached, 
while much of it glitters with salt. You could not imagine 
a more proper crown for Death. With this the brilliant 
illusion of the Dead Sea fades, and everywhere beyond, to 
the far heights of the surrounding hills, violence and deso- 
lation reign supreme. If the coast is flat you have salt- 
pans, or a briny swamp ; if terraced, there is a yellow, 
scurfy stretch of soil, with a few thorn-bushes and suc- 
culent weeds. Ancient beaches of the sea are visible all 
round it, steep banks from five to fifty feet of stained and 
greasy marl, very friable, with heaps of rubbish at their 
feet, and crowned by nothing but their own bare, crumbling 
brows. Some hold that these gave the region its ancient 
name, the Vale of Siddim j 1 and in truth, it is they which 
chiefly haunt one's memory of the Dead Sea. Last crumb- 
ling shelves of the upper world, there are not in nature 
more weird symbols of forsakenness and desolation. 

Behind these terraces of marl the mountains rise preci- 
pitous and barren on either coast. To the east the long 
range of Moab, at a height of 2500 to 3000 Thesurround . 
feet above the shore, is broken only by the lri s hills - 
great valley of the Arnon. The tawny limestone cliffs, 

1 Conder, T. fV., p. 208, says the local name for these terraces is 'sidd.' 
From the meaning of the root Tl^ = to level, D^J^ has been taken in the 

sense of level fields (Aq. Onk, etc.)- The LXX. confesses ignorance by 
translating <pdpay^ 77 oXvk/]). The Arabic in several forms means to level, 
but also to obstruct. One derived noun, 'sudd,' pi. * sidadat,' signifies a 
'hollow containing rocks, stones, and stagnant rain-water ' (Freytag), and 
Gesenius takes the Hebrew to be something equivalent. 



504 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



capped with softer chalk, and streaked with marl, but 
blotted here and there by an outcrop of basalt or black 
limestone, stand near enough to the coast to be reflected 
in the still water, and at sunset, losing their spots, glow 
one uniform amethyst above the exceeding blue. In all 
Judaea there is no view like this one, as you see it across 
the wilderness from the Mount of Olives. On the western 
coast the hills touch the water at two points, but elsewhere 
leave between themselves and the sea the shore already 
described, sometimes a hundred yards in breadth, some- 
times a mile and a half. From behind the highest terrace 
of marl the hills themselves rise precipitously in cliffs 
from 2000 to 2500 feet. No such valley cuts them as 
Arnon cuts the opposite range, but every three or four 
miles they are pierced by a narrow gorge, which continues 
in a broad gully through the marl terraces to the sea. 
These gorges are barren, except in their rocky beds, the 
only ways of passage up them, where a few trees live on 
the water that trickles out of sight beneath the grey 
shingle. Otherwise, except at Engedi, the western range 
is bare, unbroken, menacing ; and there are few places in 
the world where the sun beats with so fierce a heat. 1 
Beyond this rocky barrier stretches Jeshimon, or Devas- 
tation, the wilderness of Judaea, which we have already 
traversed. 2 

In this awful hollow, this bit of the infernal regions 
come up to the surface, this hell with the sun shining into 
History on the it: > primitive man laid the scene of God's most 
Dead Sea. terrible judgment on human sin. The glare of 
Sodom and Gomorrah is flung down the whole length of 
Scripture history. It is the popular and standard judg- 

1 For Engedi, see pp. 269 ff. 3 See pp. 312 ff. 



The Dead Sea 505 



ment of sin. The story is told in Genesis ; it is applied 
in Deuteronomy, by Amos, by Isaiah, by Jeremiah, by 
Zephaniah, in Lamentations, and by Ezekiel. 1 Our Lord 
Himself employs it more than once as the figure of the 
judgment He threatens upon cities where the word is 
preached in vain, and there we feel the flame scorch our 
own cheeks. 2 Paul, Peter, Jude, all make mention of it. 3 
In the Apocalypse the great city of sin is spiritually called 
Sodom.' 1 

The cities were five ; Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, 
and Bela or Zoar. 5 They lay on the floor of the Jordan 
Valley, after the name of which they were called The Cities of 
Cities of the Kikkar, or Circle? But exactly the Plain * 
where, we cannot tell. Though the glare of this catastrophe 
burns still, the ruins it left have entirely disappeared, and 
there remains in the valley almost no authentic trace of 
the names it has torn and scattered to infamy across the 
world. There is a much-debated but insoluble question 
whether the narratives in Genesis intend to place the cities 

1 Gen. xix. ; Deut. xxix. 23, cf. xxxii. 32 ; Amos iv. 11 ; Isaiah i. 9 f., iii. 
9, cf. xiii. 19 ; Jer. xxiii. 14, xlix. 18, 1. 40 ; Zeph. ii. 9 ; Lam. iv. 6 ; Ezek. 
xvi. 46, 49, 53, 55. 

2 Matt. x. 15, xi. 24 ; Mark vi. 11 ; Luke x. T2, xvii. 29. 

3 Rom. ix. 29, quoting Isa. i. 9 ; 2 Peter ii. 6 ; Jude 7. 

4 Rev. xi. 8. 

5 Gen. xiv. 2. Sodom = Dip, LXX. 263o/«i, in the Arab tradition 

Gomorra=i*nOy, Tb^pa, ^jy+Z. Admah = iUD*lK, 'Ada/id, 
\3y$t)\. Zeboim = D)hV, or D*U¥, or D^IV, Z*/?wefyt, ^j*«>, or 
\jy I*. Zoar = or "WW, S^p, 26 7 op, UU 

6 In our English version Cities of the Plain, but 133 = circle. 133H is 
used alone in Gen. xiii. 12, xix. 17, 29 ; Deut. xxxiv. ; 2 Sam. xviii. 23 ; but 
the fuller phrase, VDl\} 133, the Circle of Jordan, in Gen. xiii. 10, 1 Kings 
vii. 46, cf. Matt. iii. 5. 



506 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



to the north or to the south of the Dead Sea. For the 
northern site there are these arguments — that Abraham 
and Lot looked upon the cities from near Bethel, 1 that 
the name Circle of Jordan is not applicable to the south 
end of the Dead Sea, that the presence of five' cities there 
is impossible, 2 that the expedition of the Four Kings, as 
it swept north from Kadesh-Barnea, attacked Hazezon 
Tamar, which is probably Engedi, before it reached the 
Vale of Siddim and encountered the King of Sodom and 
his allies ; 3 that the name Gomorrah perhaps exists in 
Tubk 'Amriyeh, near 'Ain el Feshkah ; 4 and that the 
name of Zoar has been recovered in Tell Shaghur. 6 

But, on the other hand, at the south end of the 
Dead Sea there lay throughout Roman and Mediaeval 
times a city called Zoara by the Greeks and Zughar by 
the Arabs, which was identified by all with the Zoar of 
Lot. 6 Jebel Usdum is the ' uncontested representative of 

1 Gen. x. cf. v. 3 with v. 10. 2 'Conder, P.E.P.Q., 1886, 139. 

3 Suggested by Conder, but previously by De Saulcy. 

4 Gen. xiv. 7, 8. But see below. 

1 j^cLjj first pointed out by Rev. W. F. Birch, and adopted by Conder, 
Hetii and Moab, 154. Merrill, East of Jordan, 235, prefers the site Ektanu, 
His argument that the Zoar of the Arab. geographers lay to the north of the 
Dead Sea is met by Le Strange, Pal. under Mos/ems, 286. 

6 Zwapd and Zowp in Josephus, iv. Wars, viii. 4 : ' The Sea of Asphalt 
reaches to Zoar in Arabia ; ' cf. i. Antt. xi. 4, xiv. Antt. i. 4. Zwapa in the 
Onotnasticon, art. /Sa\d : 1 Still inhabited, lying on the Dead Sea, and holding 
a garrison of soldiers ; the balsam and palm grow by it, proofs of its ancient 
fertility.' Zughar, spelt also Sughar and Sukar, is mentioned by a number of 
Arab geographers, whose statements are collected by Le Strange, Pal. under 
Moslems, 286 ff. According to these, it was a station on the great trade 
route between the Gulf of Akabah and Jericho, one degree of latitude south 
of Jericho, ' a city of heat near the desert,' ' on the shore of the overwhelming 
lake. . . . The mountains overhang the town.' 'Near Al Karak, three 
days' march from Jerusalem, on the Higgas border.' 'The lake is called 
after it;' 'the neighbouring people call the town Sakar, i.e. Hell; its 
water is execrable ; no place equal to it in evil climate ; its people are 



The Dead Sea 



507 



Sodom. 1 Hazezon Tamar may be not En-gedi, but the 
Tamar of Ezekiel, south-west of the Dead Sea. 2 The 
name Kikkar may surely have been extended to the 
south of the Dead Sea, just as to-day the Ghor is con- 
tinued for a few miles to the south of Jebel Usdum ; 3 
Jewish and Arab traditions fix on the south ; and, finally, 
the natural conditions are more suitable there than on the 
north to the descriptions of the region both before and 
after the catastrophe, for there is still sufficient water 
and verdure on the eastern side of the Ghor to suggest a 
garden of the Lordf while the shallow bay and long 

black-skinned and thick-set ; its waters are hot, even as though the place 
stood over hell-fire. Its commercial prosperity is, likeBuzrah, on a small 
scale, and its trade very lucrative ; ' ' much arable land there ; ' ' the trade 
of the place is considerable, and its markets greatly frequented.' The 
Arab writers identify it with Lot's Zoar. Crusaders knew the place as 
Segor, but themselves called it Palmer (Will, of Tyre, xxii. 30)* M. 
Clermont Ganneau, P.E.F.Q., 1886, 20, thinks the site maybe discovered 
not far from the Tawahm es Soukhar, on the Ghor es Safieh ; and here 
Major Kitchener, P.E.F.Q., 1884, 216, with plan, found remains of buildings 
of great antiquity, but none like temples, with the name Khurbet Labrush. 

1 The phrase is Clermont Ganneau's, P.E.F.Q., 1886, 20. Usdum, 

l*Ju*il> from Sodom, by that common change which has turned Resef 

into Arsuf, etc. De Saulcy also reports ruins with the name Khurbet 
Usdum. But we have other proofs that the name Sodom existed here in 
comparatively recent times. Galen, Bk. iv. Dc simplicium medicamen- 
torum facultatibus, calls certain salts 1 salts of Sodom ' from ' the mountains 
surrounding the lake, which are called Sodom (2o5o/«i).' At the Council 
of Nice there was present a Bishop Severus Sodomorum {Acta Cone. 
Nic.) ; if this reading be correct, then we must suppose that the district 
south of the Dead Sea still held the name which was there in Galen's time, 
and is still found. This is so likely, that we can dispense with the explanation 
offered by Reland, p. 1 020. 

2 Knobel, in Gen. xiv. 7 ; cf. Ezek. xlvii. 19, xlviii. 28. 

3 Robinson, B.R. ii. 490, states that the exact point of division between 
El Ghor and El 'Arabah is a line of white cliffs which crosses the valley 
obliquely beyond the flat marshland to the south of the Dead Sea. From 
there south to Akabah is the 'Arabah ; but north to the Lake of Galilee, 
the Ghor. 4 Gen. xiii. 10. 



508 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



marshes may, better than the ground at the north end ot 
the sea, hide the secret of the overwhelmed cities. 1 

Such is the evidence for the rival sites. We can only 
wonder at the confidence with which all writers dogmatic- 
ally decide in favour of one or the other. 

And Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah 
sulphur and fire— from Jehovah, from the heavens — and He 
overturned those cities, and all the Circle, and all 

The Overthrow 

of Sodom and the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew 

Gomorrah. 

upon the ground. And Lots wife looked back as 
they fled to Zoar and became a pillar of salt. And A braham 
looked down upon Sodom and Gomorrah, upon all the land of 
the Circle, and saw, and, behold, the smoke of the land went 
up like the smoke of a furnace! 1 Some have identified 
these words as the description of such an eruption as that 
of Vesuvius upon Pompeii. 3 But there is no need to invoke 
the volcano, and those are more in harmony with the nar- 
rative, who judge that in this heavily bituminous soil there 
took place one of those terrible explosions and conflagra- 
tions, which have sometimes broken out in the similar 

1 Robinson, B.R. ii. 489, describes the Gh6r at the south end of the Dead 
Sea as ' wholly unsusceptible of cultivation,' except on the eastern side, 
' which is covered with shrubs and verdure, like the Plain of Jericho.' The 
bay is very shallow, and was fordable a few years back (on the ford, see 
Robinson, B.R. ii. p. 234 f.; Lynch, Narrative, p. 304 n.). There is nothing 
to prevent the theory that this end of the Dead Sea was formed much later 
than the Dead Sea itself. See Robinson, B.R. ii. 604. 

2 Gen. xix. 24-28. 

3 Most recently, Fritz Notling, Das Todte Meet it. der Untergang von 
Sodom u. Gomorra, in the Deutsches Montagsblatt, x. Jahrg. Nos. 27, 31, 33 
(quoted Z.D.P.V. xi. 126), seeks for the cities in the Wady Zerka Ma'in 
in Moab, and accounts for their overthrow by the eruption of a volcano. 
In support of this he points to, what he himself has proved, the compara- 
tively recent date of the lava streams on the east of Jordan. But towns 
in the Wady Zerka Ma'in could not be called cities of the Kikkar, and the 
phenomena described do not agree with a volcanic eruption. 



The Dead Sea 



509 



geology of the oil districts of North America. 1 In such 
soil great reservoirs of oil and gas are formed, and sud- 
denly discharged by their own pressure or by earthquake. 
The gas explodes, carrying high up into the air masses of 
the oil which fall back in fiery rain, and are so inextinguish- 
able that they will float afire on water. Sometimes brine 
and saline mud are ejected, and over the site of the reser- 
voirs there are tremors and subsidences. Such a pheno- 
menon accounts for all the statements of the narrative. 

The reality of the narrative, however, has been questioned 
by many. They have argued that it is simply one of the 
many legends of overturned or buried cities, 

J & Historical 

with the addition of the local phenomena of character of 

the narrative. 

the Dead Sea, and of a very much grander 
moral than has ever been attached to any tale of the kind. 
But statements of this argument have hitherto been 
vitiated by three faults. They have been based upon facts 
that are irrelevant, they have omitted some that are 
relevant, and they have supposed that critics who maintain 
the historical truth of the narrative have some subjective 
or dogmatic reason for doing so. For instance, they 
appeal to the ease with which legends spring up every- 
where of cities sunk beneath lakes or the ocean. But this 
is not relevant to our narrative, for the striking thing is 
that, though the presence of the Dead Sea offers every 
temptation for the adoption of such a legend, it is nowhere 
in the Bible even suggested that the doomed cities are 
at the bottom of the sea, but we hear of this first from 

1 Robinson {B.R. ii, 606 ff., Letter to Leopold von Buch) suggested the 
coincidence of volcanic and earthquake action, the stuff from the volcano 
setting on fire the bitumen released by the earthquake. It is Dawson, Mod, 
Science in Bible Lands, 488 ff., who gives the theory described above. 



510 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Josephus. 1 This is surely a proof of the sobriety of the 
biblical tradition. Again, the arguments against the latter 
fail to deal with the fact that the phenomena it describes 
have all happened elsewhere in similar geological forma- 
tions, and yet are so singular that it is not probable they can 
have been invented. And, thirdly, so far from its being a 
dogmatic interest which alone holds some to a belief in the 
narrative, the facts of the existence of the cities and of their 
overthrow in the manner described are accepted both by 
authorities in natural science and by critics of the Old 
Testament, who have obviously no such interests to serve. 
The effort to prove the story wholly legend may therefore 
be said to have failed. 2 

1 The one verse through which this notion of submergence could be forced 
on Scripture, only through a wrong interpretation, is Gen. xiv. 3, the Vale oj 
Siddim, which is the Salt Sea. But, first, these words do not necessarily 
identify the Vale and the Sea as coincident ; and, second, the verse only gives 
the Vale of Siddim as the battle-field, not as tne site of the cities. Nowhere 
else in Scripture is there the slightest suggestion of submergence. On the con- 
trary, the site of Scdom is regarded not as sea-covered, but as salt-covered and 
infertile, soil. It is interesting that, in their allusions to the catastrophe, neither 
Strabo (xvi.) nor Tacitus {Hist. v. 7.) speaks of submergence. All the more 
surprising is it that accurate scholars like Siegfried and Stade should twice have 
stated that the cities are sunk in the Dead Sea. HandwdrUrbuch, artt. D*1D 
and ITlDy- On Cheyne, see next note. 

2 In the above paragraph I 'have had chiefly in view a learned article by 
Canon Cheyne in the New World, vol. i., 1892, pp. 236-245, which seems 
to me to have all the three faults I have instanced. Canon Cheyne 
dwells much on the parallel afforded by the stories of cities sunk beneath the 
ocean, which, as I have shown, are relevant to this argument only for point- 
ing out how free the Bible story is from such an exaggeration, even though 
the Dead Sea must have suggested it from the first. Canon Cheyne also does 
not mention the scientific evidence. He is so sure, however, of his argument, 
that he ascribes any belief in the described facts to an uncritical orthodoxy 
and purely doctrinal interests. This may be easily disproved by citing, from 
among scientists, Notling, who both gives a site for the towns and a reason 
for their overthrow, and, from among critics who cannot be charged with a 
dogmatic bias, Knobel, who, on Gen. xix. 28, says : 1 Dem Bericht liegt ohne 
Zwcifel eine Thatsache zu Grund.' It is a pity for criticism that such total 



The Dead Sea 



5" 



It is in accordance with the grace of God, making that 
first which was last and that last which was first, that this 
awful vale of judgment, to which its inhabitants 

J & ' Ezekiel's 

sometimes gave the name of Hell, should be vision of the 

, - - t Dead Sea. 

the scene of one of the most lively and stupen- 
dous hopes of prophecy. To the north of Jerusalem 
begins the torrent-bed of the Kedron. It sweeps past the 
Temple Mount, past what were afterwards Calvary and 
Gethsemane. It leaves the Mount of Olives and Bethany 
to the left, Bethlehem far to the right. It plunges down 
among the bare terraces, precipices and crags of the 
wilderness of Judaea — the wilderness of the Scape-goat. 
So barren and blistered, so furnacelike does it become as 
it drops below the level of the sea, that it takes the name 
of Wady-en-Nar, or the Fire Wady. At last its dreary 
course brings it to the precipices above the Dead Sea, into 
which it shoots its scanty winter waters ; but all summer 
it is dry. The imagination of a prophet who always 
haunted the austere and weird, Ezekiel, filled the Wady of 
Fire with water from under the threshold of the temple, 
water that came up to the ankles, and then to the knees, and 
then to the loins, and then became waters of swimming, a 
torrent that could not be crossed. And the bare banks, that 

rejection of any narrative should be made without exhaustive review of the 
evidence, or that those who still hold to the fact in it should be described 
as doing so for purely subjective reasons, when there is still so much evidence 
for it as fact. For myself I do not feel that it matters anything to faith, 
whether the story be historical or not. But there is much evidence for it. 
The various narratives belong as follows : ch. xiii., describing Lot's settle- 
ment in Sodom, is from the Jehovist, except vv. 6, II and 12, which are 
probably from the Priestly Writing ; ch. xiv., the defeat of the five kings, 
is from an unknown source outside the chief documents, and by some held 
to be of date contemporary with its events ; and ch. xix. I -28 is from the 
Jehovist, but v. 29 from the Priestly Writing. The ghastly story, 30-38, u 
probably from some other source. 



5 1 2 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



the sun blisters, had very many trees on the one side and on 
the other. And these waters went down to the 'Arabak, 
and went into the sour waters, and the waters were to be 
healed. And the Dead Sea was to swarm with fish, and it 
shall come to pass, the fishers shall stand upon it from En- 
gedi to En-eglaim. But in the midst of the vision there is 
a curious reservation of a utilitarian kind, the fens and the 
marishes thereof shall not be healed, they shall be given for salt, 
— salt which under the Old Covenant the Dead Sea ever sup- 
plied, for house or temple, meat or sacrifice, and still sends 
up to Jerusalem by the long camel trains you see travers- 
ing the coast from Usdum to En-gedi. But the vision opens 
out again. And by the torrent upon the bank thereof, on 
this side and on that side, shall come up all trees for food t 
whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be con- 
sumed : it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, 
because their waters issued out of the Sanctuary, and the 
fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for bruises 
and sores} So there is nothing, — nothing too sunken, too 
useless, too doomed, — but by the grace of God it may be 
redeemed, lifted and made rich with life. 

Passing over several of Herod's cruelties and his own 
awful end, which happened at Jericho within the Dead 
Sea region, we come to the last historic scene on these 
bitter coasts — the Massacre of Masada. 

Masada, or Sebbeh, as it is called to-day, lies on the 
coast, five hours to the south of En-gedi. Seen from the 
north it is an immense rock, half a mile long 
by an eighth broad, hewn out of the range 
that runs down the coast, and twisted round so as to 
point boldly north-east across the sea. It is isolated, 
1 Ezek. xlvii. 1-12. 



The Dead Sea 



5^3 



precipitous on every side and inaccessible except in two 
places, where winding paths, half goat-tracks half ladders, 
may be followed by men in single file. 1 On the west this 
stronghold falls only some 400 feet upon a promontory 
that connects it with the range behind. Everywhere else 
it shows, at least, 1300 feet of cliff, but seaward as much as 
1700. The fortresses are very few that match this one in 
natural strength. But it is only when you come to it, as 
those who would attack it had to come, through the water- 
less wilderness of Judaea, that you feel its awful remoteness, 
its savage height, its fitness to turn whole armies of besiegers 
into stony despair. Masada is the Gorgon's head magni- 
fied to a mountain. After six hours' ride through the 
falling chaos of Jeshimon, 2 we found faint traces of a mili- 
tary road, — our Arabs called this Karossa el Khufeiriyeh, 
— only to lose them on the edge of a cliff. Leading our 
horses down this cliff by a path, each turn of which was 
visible only when we came to it, we struck the bed of the 
Wady Safsaf, and followed it towards the great bulk 
of rock which shut out the Dead Sea from our view, 
and soon towered above us. This was Masada, bare, 
brown, inaccessible, except for a narrow bank reared 
against it at a steep angle, and in its white colour very 
distinct from the rock itself. The bank rose from the 
neck of land which connects the rock with the wady behind. 
We climbed it on foot. Half way up we struck to the right 
along the almost precipitous rock, and then turned left by 
another sloping shelf, which brought us to a gateway with 

1 Josephus notices these two approaches. One of them he calls the Snake. 
De Saulcy says he has flattered it. 1 C'est une escalade sans interruption.'— 
Voyage autour de la Mtr Morte. 

2 See p. 312 f. 

2 K 



514 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



a pointed arch, A few more steps placed us on the 
summit. It is a plateau almost 700 yards long, and in 
breadth varies from 180 yards at the north end to 250 at 
the south. The view is magnificent, and at first dazzled 
our eyes to the interesting rums at our feet. We saw the 
Dead Sea in its whole length. En-gedi was clear to the 
north, the Jebel Usdum clear to the south. The penin- 
sula, El-Lisan, lay brilliant white on the brilliant blue of 
the water. Behind it ran the long wall of Moab, and over 
the top of this we discerned plainly the position of Kerak. 
Only westward was the view confined, and yet it had its 
own fascination, for here rise the jagged cliffs of Jeshimon, 
with the uncouth valley running up through them. 
Immediately below is the neck of land coming out to 
Masada from this valley, the dizzy depths of the gorges 
on either side, and eastward the broad flat beach of 
the sea. 

The ruins on Masada are the gateway already noticed t 
the debris of a wall running right round the edge of the 
The build- plateau, and on the latter, cisterns and tombs, 
ings. rema i ns f a cas tle and of a great palace, 

a chapel with the apse still standing, and curious mosaics 
on the walls. The pointed arch of the gateway and the 
chapel are certainly Byzantine or later. The rest of the 
ruins are Herodian. It is with them that the real history 
of Masada is bound up. 

Jonathan Maccabeus was the first to build a fortress on 
the rock. 1 Herod fled to it with his bride Mariamne in 
42 B.C., when the Parthians took Jerusalem ; and eight 
years later he elaborately built upon it. He enclosed the 
plateau by a wall seven furlongs in circumference with 

1 Hence the name mVD = fortress. 



The Dead Sea 



515 



towers. He built a richly-furnished palace on the west, 
and floored it with stones of several colours — the mosaic 
still found. The top of the hill, which was of fat soil, 
he reserved for cultivation ; he hewed many and great 
reservoirs for rain, and laid up in caverns immense quan- 
tities of wine, oil, pulse and dates. It is said that these 
stores were still in good condition a century later, when 
Masada, along with Machaerus and Hyrcaneum, fell into 
the hands of the Sicarii — the most fanatic and delirious of 
all the Jewish patriots in the war of Independence. In 
70 A.D. when Jerusalem fell, a band of them, The mas5acre 
being the last survivors of the garrison, fled ofMasada - 
with Eleazar to Masada. They might well have thought 
themselves secure in a fortress so remote, and standing so 
well furnished in the midst of so waterless a country. But 
they had Rome to deal with. Now Palestine is stamped all 
over with proofs of the power of the Romans, yet nowhere 
are you so forced into admiration of their genius as when 
you stand on that Dead Sea coast below Masada, between 
their two camps, or mark the wall they built around the 
rock, or the white ramp they raised against it. They laid 
a road across a waterless desert, brought their siege- 
engines down cliffs, and fought for months, miles away 
from their water and their forage. The General was 
Flavius Silva, a lieutenant of Titus. On the earthen bank 
on the promontory he raised another bank of stones, and 
on that a great tower plated with iron. This brought the 
battering-ram on a level with the edge of the plateau, and 
it breached Herod's wall. The defenders built an inner 
wall, that was but a great trough of wood packed with 
earth, and the blows of the ram only made this more com- 
pact. Silva set it on fire. At first the flames were blown 



5 1 6 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



on the besiegers, but, the wind changing, the fire coursed 
through the whole wall. The Romans let it burn, and 
retired to their camps for the night. Next morning they 
planted their ladders and prepared for the assault. But 
no one met them, and on all the plateau nothing moved 
except the still smouldering fire. The first of the storming 
party stood still on the tops of their ladders and sent across 
the silence a great shout. Then two women with some 
children came out of a cave, and told that when the inner 
wall took fire, Eleazar gathered his men and urged them, 
rather than fall into Roman hands, or let their wives and 
children so fall, to kill the latter, and then to slay each 
other. Moved by his words into a great fury, not one 
drew back or scrupled, but, kissing them with tears, each 
slew those who were dearest to him. Then by lot ten of 
the men were chosen to fall upon the others, who received 
their death-blows lying stretched upon their families. And 
of those ten one was chosen who slew the other nine, and, 
setting fire to all their property that had been gathered 
together for burning, he fell upon his own sword. The two 
women who now met the Romans had hidden themselves 
with five children, and these were the only survivors of a 
garrison of nearly one thousand. 



BOOK IIS 

EASTERN PALESTINE 

CHAPTER XXIV 
OVER JORDAN : THE GENERAL FEATURES 



For this Chapter consult Maps I. and III 



OVER JORDAN : THE GENERAL FEATURES 



'XI THO,' says Dean Stanley, 'that has ever travelled 
V V in Palestine has not longed to cross the Jordan 
Valley to those mysterious hills which close every east- 
ward view with their long horizontal outline, their over- 
shadowing heights, their deep purple shade?' He justly 
calls them 'the most novel feature of the Holy Land,' 
' the elevating and solemn background of all that is poor 
and mean in the scenery of Western Palestine.' Now 
only part of their impressiveness is due to their height, 
enhanced as it is by the unusual depression of the Jordan 
Valley below them ; they derive by far the most of their 
fascination from their sustained line of elevation. As you 
see this from afar, you feel in it the promise of a fresh 
and spacious country behind — high, healthy areas of life, 
an open and a richly furnished stage for history. 

This promise is amply fulfilled when you cross Joraan 
and climb the range of Eastern Palestine. The country 
is about 150 miles long from Hermon on the The eastern 
north to the south end of the Dead Sea ; its P lateau - 
breadth, from the edge of the Jordan Valley to the edge 
of the desert, varies from thirty to eighty. Yet through- 
out this great extent the average elevation must be 
nearly 2000 feet above the level of the sea, or 2800 above 
the average level of Jordan. The consequence is a 

619 



520 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



temperate climate lifted above the almost tropic heats 
which surround it to west and south. In winter the 
snow lies for days at a time ; 1 even in November and 
March there are frosts ; 2 and the temperature falls low 
enough to explain the old Arab saying that the cold has 
one of its homes in the Belka'. 3 Throughout summer 
there seems to be more rain, mist, and cloud than upon 
the other side of Jordan, 4 and the days are swept by 
breezes from the west with the freshness of 
the sea upon them. The Jaulan and Hauran 
were called by the Romans ( Palestina Salutaris;' and 
Oliphant says that 1 cool-blowing ' is an epithet Arab 
poets are fond of applying to the Nukra, or southern 
end of Hauran. 5 We traversed Eastern Palestine during 
twenty-two days of midsummer, 6 and were therefore 
able to test the climate. We had thrice dense mists, 7 
and several very cold evenings. Every morning about 
ten a breeze sprang up from the west, and lasted till 
sun-down, so that although the noon temperature in the 
Jordan Valley, as often as we entered it, was at least 
103 , on the table-land above we seldom had it over 90 . 8 
Whether upon the shadeless plain of Hauran, where the 

1 Seetzen {Reisen, vol. i. ) had during February very deep snow. 

2 Burckhardt ( Travels in Syria, 92) reports strong hoar frosts in Novem- 
ber in Hauran. Merrill [East of Jordan, 358) found ice in the heart of 
Gilead on March 1 8th with a temperature in the air of 38 . 

8 The portion of the Eastern range from Arnon to Jabbok. 
* Burckhardt, id. passim. Buckingham, Travels, etc., chaps, xviii.-xxiv., 
Post, P.E.F.Q., 1888, pp. 191, 203-205. 
6 Land of Gilead, 102. 

6 16th June to 7th July 1891. 

7 At Ghabaghib, Irbid (see p. 65), and Wady Yabis. 

8 At the same time, in the gorges by which the table-land is cut the heat 
was generally stifling; cf. Burckhardt's experience in the Arnon on July 14th. 
— Travels, etc. , 373. 



Over Jordan: the General Features 52 



ripe corn swayed like the sea before the wind, 1 or upon 
the ridges of Gilead, where the oak branches rustled and 
their shadows swung to and fro over the cool paths, 2 
most of the twelve hours were almost as bracing as the 
dawn, and night fell, not, as in other parts of Palestine, 
to repair, but to confirm, the influences of the day. 
Eastern Palestine is a land of health. This was our 
first impression, as we rose to Hauran by the steppes 
south of Pharpar, the wind blowing over from Hermon, 
and this was our last impression, when we regretfully 
struck our tents on the pastures of Moab, where the dry 
herbage makes the breezes as fragrant as the heather the 
winds of our own Highlands. Victory and Good Fortune 
were the favourite deities of the later Pagans of this 
region, but their temples might more fitly have been 
dedicated to the goddess Hygeia. 

But Eastern Palestine does more than fulfil its promise 
of fresh air. Broad and breezy as it looks from afar, it 
also looks barren, and when you come upon it 

The waters 

surprises you by its fertility. Next to its air, of Eastern 

. - TTT Palestine. 

its waters are its most charming feature. West 
of the Jordan no rivers run, and only a few perennial 
streams, but here are at least four rivers — Yarmuk, 'Arab, 
Jabbok and Arnon, of which the Yarmuk, with its great 
falls, is as large as Jordan. 3 These rivers drain the whole 
country and the desert behind. They run in deep gorges, 
below the average level of the plateau, but they are fed 
by numerous springs and streams, which, with the winter 
snow and rains, sufficiently water the higher lands. 4 

1 See ch. xxix. 

2 Post also speaks of 4 the cool air of the uplands of Gilead.' — P.E.F.Q., 
1888, 200. 8 i.e. before Jordan receives Yarmuk. 

* Only on the heights of the Belka' the water is insufficient 



522 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Luxuriant vegetation is, therefore, almost universal, and 
all agriculture prosperous. In the most northerly of 
the three divisions of the country, from Hermon to the 
Yarmuk, a large part of the surface, being of a rich 
volcanic soil, is tilled for wheat, and the rest 

The fertility. ' 

is covered by a thick herbage. 1 This is 
Hauran, the granary of Syria, and the hilly district to 
the west of it was once thickly wooded. The middle 
region, Gilead, between the Yarmuk and the Jabbok, has 
its ridges covered by forests, under which you may march 
for the whole day in breezy and fragrant shade; 2 the 
valleys hold orchards of pomegranate, apricot and olive, 
there are many vineyards, on the open plains are fields of 
wheat and maize, 3 and the few moors are rich in fragrant 
herbs. 4 Gilead bore perfume and medicine for the whole 
Eastern world. They who first break out of her into 
history are a company of Ishmaelites with their camels 
bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down 
to Egypt!" It became a proverb, Is there no balm in 
Gilead, is there no physician there ! and again, Go up into 
Gilead and take balm! & In the third division, south of 
the Jabbok, the forests gradually cease, and Ammon and 

1 See chap. xxix. 

2 Cf. Burckhardt, Travels, etc., 348. 'Grateful shade of fine oak and 
pistachios, with a scenery more like that of Europe than any I had yet seen 
in Syria.'— Post, P.E.F.Q., 1888, p. 200. Otiphant {Land of Gilead, 160) 
aptly quotes 2 Sam. xviii. 8 : the wood devoured more people that day than the 
tword. Of the valley in which 'Ajlun lies he says justly that it was 'a view 
such as one would expect to find in the Black Forest.' On the fertility of 
Gilead, cf. 129, 130. 

5 Like the Beka'a and the plateau above it near Salt. 
* On the botany see especially, Post, P.E.F.Q., 1888. 
5 Gen. xxxvii. 25. 

8 Jer. viii. 22 ; xlvi. 1 1. The substance is known to botany as the Bal- 
iamum Gileademe. 



Over Jordan: the General Features 523 



Moab are mostly high, bare moors, with a few jungles of 
bush. They are occasionally cultivated for wheat and 
once bore the vine. 

More famous than the tilth of Eastern Palestine is her 
pasture. We passed through at the height of the shep- 
herd's year. From the Arabian deserts the The pastures 
Bedouin were swarming to the fresh summer and herds * 
herbage of these uplands. We should never have be- 
lieved the amount of their flocks had we not seen, and 
attempted to count them. One Sunday afternoon which 
we spent at Edrei, the 'Aneezeh tribe, 1 that roams from 
Euphrates to Jordan, drove their camels upon the plain 
to the north of the town, till we counted nearly a thousand 
feeding, and there was a multitude more behind. Next 
day we passed their foes, the Beni Sahr, one of whose 
camel-herds numbered four hundred, and another two 
hundred. We looked south-east from the hills above 
Amman, and there were hundreds more of the Sherarat 
Arabs from Ma'an. Profusion of camels shall cover thee, 
camels of Midian and Ephah, all of them from Sheba shall 
come! 1 The Bedouin had also many sheep and goats. 
The herds of the settled inhabitants were still more numer- 
ous. In Moab the dust of the roads bears almost no marks 
but those of the feet of sheep. The scenes which throng 
most our memory of Eastern Palestine, are (besides the 
threshing-floors of Hauran) the streams of Gilead in the 
heat of the day with the cattle standing in them, or 
the evenings when we sat at the door of our tent near 
the village well, and would hear the shepherd's pipe far 
away, and the sheep and goats, and cows with the heavy 
bells, would break over the edge of the hill and come down 

1 Or a branch of it— the Oulad 4 AlL a Isa. lx. 6. 



524 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



the slope to wait their turn at the troughs. Over Jordan 
we were never long out of the sound of the lowing of 
cattle or of the shepherd's pipe. 

And so one understands why so large a part of the 
annals of this country is taken up with the multiplying 
of cattle, tribute in sheep and wool, 1 and the taking 
of spoil by tens of thousands of camels, and hundreds 
of thousands of sheep. 2 The bulls of Bashan and the 
fat kine of Bashan are proverbial throughout the Old 
Testament. 1 Thou canst not,' runs an Arab saying, 
'find a country like the Belka" for cattle and sheep. 8 
When Moses overcame Midian the spoil was reckoned at 
more than half a million of sheep, 72,000 beeves, and 
61,000 asses. 4 When the children of Reuben and of Gad, 
who had a very great multitude of cattle, saw the land of 
Jazer and Gilead, they asked it for themselves, for the 
place was a place for cattle? When Reuben lingered in 
his own country and would not cross Jordan to the help 
of the Lord against the mighty, Deborah taunted him : — 

''By the water-courses of Reuben great were the resolves t 
Why then didst thou abide among the sheep-hurdles, 
To listen to the bleating of the flocks? 

By the water-courses of Reuben there were great resolves of heart! ' • 

The king of Moab is called a sheepmaster, and the 
tribute he gave the king of Israel is set at 100,000 lambs, 
and 100,000 rams with the wool. 7 Thus flocks and pas- 
tures have ever been the wealth, the charm, the temptation 
of Eastern Palestine. 

1 2 Chron. v. 9 ; 2 Kings iii. 4. • 2 Chron. v. 21. 

8 Burckhardt, 369. 

* One cannot, of course, vouch for the truth of these numbers. 

6 Num. xxxii. I. 6 Judges v. 16. 7 2 Kings iii. 4 



Over Jordan: the General Features 525 



The third general feature of Eastern Palestine is its 
openness to the desert. Bashan, Gilead, and Moab all 
roll off, with almost no intervening barrier, Exposure to 
upon the great Arabian plateau. Consequently the desert> 
they have been exposed in all ages to the invasion of the 
hungry nomads, some of whom swarm upon them every 
year for pasture, while others have settled down into 
more permanent occupation : 1 living in movable camps, 
but cultivating the soil. These are the Ishmaelites and 
Midianites of the Old Testament ; children of the East, 
who made Gilead their basis of operation against Western 
Palestine. It was the sons of Ishmael whom Balak called 
to help him against Israel. Their sheikhs went with the 
elders of Moab to bring Balaam from the farther east to 
curse the people of Jehovah, 2 and the last war Moses 
undertook was to avenge Jehovah upon Midian. 3 Again 
in the days of the Judges they swarmed across Jordan, and 
every spring, pitching their black tents in Jezreel, swept 
off the harvests from the valleys of Ephraim. But Gideon 
beat them back across the river, and finally broke them 
upon Moab. He took the two kings of Midian, Zebah 
and Zalmunnah, and discomfited all the host} The Day oj 
Midian was very decisive. 5 But though, for many cen- 
turies to come, Israel had nothing to fear Actiori of 
on this frontier from Arabia, the tides rose Axabs - 
again in the close of her history, 6 and even till now 
they have flowed and ebbed unceasing. You stand 

1 The Arab tribes of Eastern Palestine are clearly distinguishable into 
one or other of these classes: (i) Bedouin, whose range lies wholly within 
Eastern Palestine, like the 'Adwan, Beni Sahr, etc.; (2) those who come id 
every year from Arabia like the 'Aneezeh, Sherarat, etc. 

2 Num. xxii. 6. 8 Num. xxxi. 4 Judges viii. 12. 
• Isa. ix. 4 (Eng. Vers.). 6 Josephus, xiii. Antt. xiii. 3. 



526 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



to-day on one of the Moab hills, and looking east you 
see nothing but a tossed and weary land, as destitute 
of signs of life as mid-ocean. Yet as irresistibly and 
almost as regularly as ocean is drawn upon great 
tides by the moon, so have these trackless wastes been 
swept by tides of men, drawn on by hunger and the 
hope of spoil. Successive civilisations — Semitic, Greek, 
Roman, and Turkish — have kept them back for a time, 
but as these decayed, they have swept in again with the 
regularity and remorselessness of the sea. Scattered 
across Hauran and Gilead were great Greek cities, the 
military roads of the Roman Empire, large castles and 
towers of the Turks. But to-day those are all in ruins, 
and the names of many of them forgotten. Whereas the 
Bedawee pitches his camps about them, herds his sheep in 
their courts, and calls himself by the very names which his 
ancestors bore there in the days of Gideon. A Zeeb still 
leads a Midianite tribe in Moab. 1 The Beni-Mesaid pitch 
their summer camp where an inscription of 214 A D. re- 
cords the presence of a nomad tribe of the same name. 2 
They extort the same blackmail ; if it is withheld, they 
sweep off the harvests in the same ruthless fashion. 3 We 
found Arab tents pitched near the flourishing town of 
Irbid, and in the tents a Bedawee chieftainess, to whom 
the Irbid people, in spite of having a Turkish lieutenant- 
governor and a troop of soldiers in their midst, pay 
annual tribute for the security of their crops. The tax is 
called by a euphemism Brotherhood, and the town which 
yields it is known as the sister of the tribe that makes the 

1 'Ali Di'ab = Zeeb = wolf, the chief of the 'Ad wan. 
* Waddington, 2287 : (pvXrj Mofai'S^vuM'. 
5 Or burn them, Burckhardt, Travels, etc 



Over Jordan: the General Features 527 



demand. It is so established a custom that Government 
allows it, and even takes a percentage of their spoil from 
the nomads. 1 But it was among the ruins of an ancient 
city that we felt most the force of these desert tides upon 
Eastern Palestine. At Pella, overlooking the Jordan, 
there was once a great town, with a castle, colonnades, 
mausoleums, pagan temples, and a noble Christian cathe- 
dral. You can now distinguish these only by their base- 
ment lines and a few pillars. Scarcely one stone stands 
upon another. But close beside them, when we were 
there, stood the tents of a large Bedawee tribe. Frail 
houses of hair, they were here four thousand years ago, 
ere civilisation had left the Nile and the Euphrates, and 
they flowed in again upon the decay of one of her most 
powerful bulwarks. For the Arabs have been like the 
wild ocean, barred off for a time, yet prevailing at last over 
the patience and virtue of great empires. 

We have now discovered the secrets of the confusing 
history of Eastern Palestine. Here is a land which is 
blessed more than most with health and fer- R esu it— A 
tility, but its health is paralysed by its danger, lenceanT' 
its fertility has ever been checked and blasted insecunt y- 
by the floods of human barbarism to which it lies so 
exposed. And hence the mingled brilliance and ineffec- 
tiveness of the history of this province — the civilisation 
which sprang so quickly and so richly from its soil, the 
ruins which everywhere cover it to-day. No land possesses 
greater power of recuperation, but except for the first 
five centuries of our era its enemies have never given its 
wounds time to heal. Israel planted on the east of Jordan 

1 * Brotherhood/ Huwah ; ' Sister,' Uht. Burckhardt describes the whole 
system as it prevails in Hauran. — Travels, etc., 300 ff. 



528 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



tribes as valiant and righteous 1 as those which she brought 
to the west, and in a richer soil. Yet they had no part 
in the greatness of the nation, and the Kingdom and 
Church of God were built upon Western Palestine. 
Ammon and Moab were wealthier than Judah and 
Ephraim, yet they never reached even the merely political 
achievements of the latter. We read of many cities in 
Eastern Palestine in early times, but which of them 
became famous ? We know the sites of only a very few. 
The land of Uz has been identified with various parts of 
Eastern Palestine ; and indeed one could not get a better 
summary of the whole history of the region than the story 
of the substance of Job and of the disasters which swept 
it away. But two other proofs may be given of the same 
insecurity of so fertile a province. 

One is the existence of subterranean fortresses and 
towns, and of towns which are of the next degree to 
Underground subterranean, being built in the heart of these 
Cities. intricate mazes of lava which have spread and 
cracked open in the north-east of the region. 2 

The careful and elaborate architecture of these refuges 

1 Gen. xlix. ; Deut. xxxiii. 

2 Of subterranean towns the most famous is that of Edrei, on which see 
later, p. 576. In an inscription in Kanawat (Wadd. 2329) Agrippa I. 
blames the inhabitants for dwelling in caves and bids them build houses, cf. 
Joseph, xiv. Antt. xv. 5, xv. Antt. x. I, xvi. Antt. ix. 1. Strabo (xvi. 2. 20) 
mentions great caves in the Trachons (he wrongly says in mountains beyond 
the Trachons), one of which could hold 4000 robbers ; cf. Wetzstein, Reise- 
bericht iiber Hauran u. die Trachonen, 36 ff. ; also what he says of the caves 
in Zumle and Es-Suet, pp. 46 f. ; mentioned also by William of Tyre, xxii. 
21, as the c Cavea Roob.' In Gilead caves are only less numerous. Oliphant 
(Land of Gilead, pp. 147, 161 f.) was told both by his guides and the Turkish 
officials of an underground village in Gilead, Belvola, but did not find it. 
He thinks it near the Jebel Kafkafa. He also heard of vast subterranean 
dwellings at a place Rehab, east of the Kala'at ez Zerka (p. 218). On the 
great caverns at Arak-el-Emtr, see Conder's Heth and Moab, pp. 169 ff. ; also 



Over Jordan: the General Features 529 



testifies at once to the high culture of the inhabitants and 
to the frequency of the barbaric invasions against which 
they took such formidable precautions. History corrobo- 
rates ; from Strabo to Wetzstein we read again and again 
of how the population was run to earth, 1 and to-day 
travellers tell us that whole cityfuls of men, in order to 
avoid some new line of Arab invasion, will migrate in a 
single night to some other city which had lain empty for 
years from a similar cause. 2 This sudden transference of 
large numbers of the settled inhabitants is extraordinary ; 
no two travellers, between whose visits ten years have 
elapsed, will give you the same account of the cultivation 
or populousness of the same district. 

But this strange combination of opulence and insecurity, 
which is the chief feature of Eastern Palestine, is perhaps 
most clearly illustrated by the fortunes upon The Greeks 
her of Greek civilisation. These healthy and and Rome ' 
fertile plateaus were early discovered and occupied by the 
Greeks. Veterans of Alexander the Great founded cities ; 
the Syrian and Egyptian dynasties in turn attempted to 
organise the region. Yet in spite of all this there was 
achieved in Eastern Palestine no permanent civilisation 
till the coming of the Romans. Across Jordan Greek 
remains of the Seleucid age are the merest fragments; 3 

P.E.F. Mem. on Eastern Palestine; for cities in the great lava mazes, cf. 
Wetzstein, op. cit. Porter, Five Years in Damascus, ii. The Leja is 
covered with ruins. The remains of one town, Musmieh, are three miles in 
circumference, and so situated that ' it was necessary to cut a road through 
the lava bed in order to reach the city, which no doubt enjoyed immunity 
from attack, since the rock fields about it are almost impassable.' — Merrill, 
East of Jordan, p. 16. 

1 See especially Wetzstein, Reisebericht, etc., p. 46. 

3 Burckhardt, Travels. Post, op. cit. 

8 One or two inscriptions may date from the Seleucids ; cf. those given by 
Burckhardt, Travels in Syria. 

2 L 



530 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



nor does history record there any real progress. It 
required nothing less than the genius of Rome, the power 
of the Legions, the organisation of the Empire, to build 
a bulwark between Syria and the desert ; and even those 
enormous powers took nearly two centuries to their task. 
We shall follow the interesting details later on. Here it 
is only necessary to state that Pompey brought the first 
Legions to Eastern Palestine in 64 B.C. ; that from that 
year the Greek cities date their civic eras, as if previously 
they had had no real history; that Greek coins and inscrip- 
tions begin to multiply; that the underground cities are 
abandoned, and that Greek art and letters abundantly 
flourish. About 106 A.D. Trajan creates another province 
between Syria and the eastern borders of the Empire, 
thus removing her even from touch with the desert. Then 
follows the splendid rule of the Antonines. Eastern 
Palestine is covered with roads ; her fields are cultivated 
for some centuries in peace, and her cities permitted to 
multiply to such an extent that to-day the astonished 
traveller, as he passes across her once more Arab-swept 
surface, can stand almost nowhere but the sites of two 
or three of them are in his view. 

That no power but Rome has ever held Eastern Pales- 
tine secure against the desert, is the crowning feature of 
the strange history of this land. 



CHAPTER XXV 

THE DIVISIONS AND NAMES OF 
EASTERN PALESTINE 



J*br this Chapter consult Maps 1. and III 



THE DIVISIONS AND NAMES OF EASTERN 
PALESTINE 



ASTERN Palestine may be said to stretch from 



' Hermon to the south end of the Dead Sea. To 
form a clear idea of its provinces we must The dividing 
note the three large rivers which cut it at right nvers * 
angles to the Jordan — the Arnon, the Jabbok, and the 
Yarmuk. Of these the Arnon has nearly always formed 
the political boundary to the south. 1 The other two, the 
Jabbok and the Yarmuk, divide Eastern Palestine into 
three separate provinces. The southern face of Hermon — 
continued eastwards by the Jebel 'Aswad — is properly the 
northern boundary ; but round on the east of Hermon 
there is room for the territory of Damascus. Separated 
by Anti-Lebanon from the west and the north, Damascus 
is thrown upon Eastern Palestine. But its slope to the 
desert, while all the rest of the country drains to the 
Jordan, as well as the low line of hills to the south of it, 
sufficiently distinguish the territory of Damascus from the 
three provinces which form Eastern Palestine proper. 
These we now take from north to south. Physically they 
are quite distinct. 




1 Israel's territory never went south of Arnon, and to-day the Arnon is the 
practical boundary of the Turkish province of the Belka'. 

683 



534 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



I. The Three Natural^ Divisions. 

Across the most northerly division, from Hermon to 
Yarmuk, the limestone which forms the basis of the 

(1) North of country is covered by volcanic deposits. The 

the Yarmuk. stQne j s basaltj the so JJ j s richj red loam 

resting on beds of ash, and there are vast 1 harras ' or 
eruptions of lava, suddenly cooled and split open into the 
most tortuous shapes. Down the edge of the Jordan 
valley, and down the border of the desert run rows of 
extinct volcanoes. The centre of this northern province 
is a great plain, perhaps fifty miles long by twenty broad, 
scarcely broken by a hill, and almost absolutely treeless. 
This is Hauran proper. To the west of this, above the 
Jordan, is the hilly and once well-wooded district of 
Jaulan ; to the east the 'harras' and extinct volcanoes 
already noticed ; and in the south-east the high range 
of Jebel Hauran or Jebel ed-Druz. All beyond is desert 
draining to the Euphrates. 

South of the Yarmuk the volcanic elements almost 
entirely disappear and the limestone comes to the surface. 

( 2 ) Between We experienced an interesting proof of the 
andThe mUk su dd enness of the change. In every village 
jabbok. f Hauran we had found ancient inscriptions, 

still legible in the hard black basalt ; but when we crossed 
the Yarmuk we found almost no inscriptions and very 
little carving — the limestone is not a material to have 
preserved them. 1 Between the Yarmuk and Jabbok the 



1 In the towns south of the Yarmuk the few inscriptions we came across 
were nearly all in basalt. This is true of Gadara, on the border of the 



Divisions and Names of Eastern Palestine 535 



country is mainly disposed in high ridges, fully forested ; 
eastward there are plains. 1 

South of Jabbok the ridges and forests alike diminish, 
till by the north end of the Dead Sea the country assumes 
the form of an absolutely treeless plateau, in ( 3 ) Between 
winter bleak, in summer breezy and fragrant. and"Se b ° k 
This plateau is broken only by deep, wide, Arnon - 
warm valleys like the Arnon, across which it rolls south 
beyond our present survey. Eastward it is separated 
from the desert by low rolling hills. 

These three sections, then, are physically distinct 
from each other and from the territory of Damascus 
to the north. It is unfortunate that through ancient 
history we do not find the same definiteness of poli- 
tical division and nomenclature. In Eastern Palestine 
names are everywhere adrift. We are best able to fix 
those of the present day, and from them we can work 
backwards into the past. 



II. The Names and Divisions of To-day. 

To-day the chief line of political division is the Jabbok. 
By this the whole of Eastern Palestine, except Damascus, 
is divided into two Mutasserafliks or Provinces. 2 

i/-iTiii 1 •• 1 .t The Belka'. 

South of the Jabbok, and comprising the ridges 

and table-land to the Arnon, is the Belka'. The Belka ( is 

administered from Nablus, but has its own local capital at 

volcanic region. In Gerasa both basalt and limestone were used. Between 
Yarmuk and Jabbok there are one or two extinct craters and some outcrops 
of basalt. 

1 See p. 578, See Additional Notes to Second Edition, 



536 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Es-Salt. 1 North of the Jabbok, and as far as the territory 
Larger °f Damascus, extends the Mutasseraflik of 
Hauran. Haurari) 2 with its cap i ta l at El-Merkez. 3 It is 
divided into the following districts : — Between the Jabbok 
and the Yarmuk lies the wooded district of 
Ajlun ' 'Ajlun, administered from Irbid. North of the 
Yarmuk, along the Jordan Valley to the slopes of Hermon 
runs Jaulan; 4 it is divisible into a southern and 



Ja ' more arable, and a northern and more rocky 
half ; the whole is administered from El-Kuneitrah. The 
eastern border is the river 'Allan, a tributary of the Yarmuk, 
and the Wady Rukkad. But still east of this lies the town 
Sahem ej-Jaulan, and in Porter's day the Jaulan extended 
to the Hajj Road. Other divisions of the Mutasseraflik of 
Hauran, each under a Kaimakam, are the Jebel ed-Druz, 
administered from es-Suweda, Dera'at, and Busr-el-Hariri. 6 
The great plain to the east of Jaulan is called Hauran 
in the narrower but popular sense of the name. It 
Hauran stretches north and south from the territory of 
proper. Damascus to the district of 'Ajlun, from the 
Jebel 'Aswad to the Wady Shelaleh or Upper Yarmuk. 6 
The southern end of it is called En-Nukra, 'the hollow 
hearth ' of the Bedouin, for it lies low 7 between the hilly 

1 Strictly speaking, the southern border is the Arnon, but practically the 
Belka' extends farther south. 2 Sic, and not 'The Hauran.' 

s The early Arab geographers called all the country from Damascus to the 
Belka', Saouad of Damascus (Rey, Col. Franques, p. 434). Those quoted 
by Le Strange {Pal. under Moslems, p. 34) make the territory of Damascus 
extend to the borders of the Belka', and mention as districts within it : 
Jaidur, Jaulan, Hauran with its capital Busra, El-Bathanieyyah with i;- 
capital Edrei, or Adhra'ah. 

4 Surveyed and described by Schumacher, The Jaulan, London, 1888, 
translated from Z.D.P. V. for 1886. Its extent is about 560 square miles. 

6 Hartmann {Z.D.P. V. xiii. 61) says that at present Es-Salt is also undei 
Hauran. 6 Schumacher. 

7 See p. 552 for a proposed derivation of Hauran. 



Divisions and Names of Eastern Palestine 537 



Jaulan on the west, the Leja and more distant Jebel 
Hauran on the east, and the ridge of Zumleh behind 
Edrei on the south. The name Hauran extends vaguely 
towards the desert, but the features are so varied as to be 
separately designated. To the east of the plain there is 
the Leja — the long, low flood of lava, 'the tempest in 
stone ' — twenty-four miles by ten to twenty. 1 East of this 
is another plain, the Wady Liwa or Nimreh, the upper part 
of which is called 'Ard el Beteniyeh ; 2 while to the south 
of this is the Jebel Hauran or Druz, on which Druse Sheikhs 
hold themselves half independent of the Government. 

From Damascus the Hajj Road traverses the Hauran 
plain to Muzeirib, on the sources of the Yarmuk, and 
the nee the desert to the east of 'Ajlun and the The Hajj 
Belka'. 2 It is a very ancient line of traffic to road - 
the Gulf of Akaba ; but in early Arab history a more 
frequented route into Arabia was that which held east- 
ward through Bosra, and in those days Bosra, or Eski- 
Shem, disputed with Damascus the front rank among 
cities in this region. 

With these divisions and names of to-day before us, 
we can now go back to the disposition of the land as it 
was in the Greek period and at the time of Christ, and 
then to its arrangement in Old Testament history. 3 

1 Length from Burak to Tell Dubbeh ; breadth in the south at Shuhbah 
twenty miles, but tapering gradually to a round headland on the north. 

2 So in Stubel's chart, and Fischer and Guthe's map. 

3 The arrangement of Eastern Palestine at the time of the Crusades would 
only disturb our study of its ancient divisions, so I put as much as we know 
of it in this note. 

The Crusaders called Eastern Palestine Oultre Jourdain. To the south the 

Seigneurie of Krak and Montreal extended from the Arnon ^ 

° _,. . /T> _ . . _ _, Eastern Pales- 

to Mount binai (Key. Colonies Franques, p. 393). The tine and the 

territory of Suete, or Suhete, was the Jaulan, and was under Crusades. 

the Principality of Galilee (Ibid. 434). The name is either the same as 



538 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



III. Divisions and Names in the Greek Period: 
the Time of Christ. 

In the Greek period the general name for all Eastern 
Palestine was Ccele-Syria. 1 This had at first been be- 
stowed upon the hollow between the Lebanons, 2 
and was thence loosely stretched over the whole 
of Southern Syria except Phcenicia. 3 But before the 
Romans came it seems to have been restricted again to 
the east of the Jordan, and by officially separating it 
from Phcenicia and Judaea, the Romans confirmed this 
restriction. 4 To Josephus, Ccele-Syria is all Eastern Pales- 
tine, 6 and the only town west of the Jordan which be- 
longed to it was the capital of the Decapolis, Beth-Shan. 6 
Thus restricted to Eastern Palestine, Ccele-Syria con- 
sisted, to the south of the Yarmuk, of Peraea and the 
Divided by interlaced region of Decapolis, and, to the 
the Yarmuk. nor th of the Yarmuk, of the various provinces 
which in the time of Christ made up the tetrarchy of 

the Suwade of the Arab geographers or the modern El-§uet = ^ 

mentioned by Wetzstein {Reisebericht, p. 46). Gilead the Crusaders do not 
appear to have held. Baldwin I. took tribute about Es-Salt in 11 18 (Rey, 
p. 435). Two expeditions reached Bosra in 11 13 and 11 19. In 1125 and 
1 129 they did not advance beyond Suete. 
1 KoiXrj 'Lvpla.. 

3 To which it is perhaps still confined in I Esdr. iv. 48. 

3 ' Coele-Syria and Phoenicia,' 1 Esdras ii. 17, 24, 27 ; vi. 29 ; vii. 1 ; viii. 67; 
1 Mace. x. 69 ; 2 Mace. iii. 5, 8, where Jerusalem is given as one of its 
towns; 2 Mace. iv. 4 ; viii. 8 ; x. 11. Polybius, v. 80, and Diodorus Siculus, 
xix. 59, include the Philistine coast. Even Josephus once uses it in this general 
sense, xiv. Antt. iv. 5 : ' Coele-Syria as far as the river Euphrates and Egypt.' 

4 In 47 B.C. they gave the military charge of it to Herod, xiv. Antt. ix. 5. 
or parity bs ttjs Koikrjs Suptas, i. Wars, x. 8. In this passage Ccele-Syria is dis 
tinct from Samaria (8), Galilee (5), and, of course, Judaea; cf. Pliny, H.N., v. 9. 

6 xiii. Antt. xiii. 3, including Moab and Ammon ; cf. i. Antt. xi. 5. 
xiii. Antt. xiii. 2. 



Divisions and Names of Eastern Palestine 539 



Philip, — Gaulanitis, Auranitis, Batanea, Trachonitis and 
Ituraean land. That is to say, while to-day the Jabbok is 
the principal line of division, and the Yarmuk subsidiary, 
in Greek days it was the Yarmuk which was the chief 
frontier with the Jabbok subsidiary. 

Peraea was properly identical with the modern Belka', 
or the region between Jabbok and Arnon. In one passage 
Josephus says that it stretched from Pella, or 
just south of the Jabbok, to Machaerus, or just 
north of the Arnon, and from the Jordan to Philadelphia. 1 
But the name, which simply means the land across, must 
have been used also in a wider sense, for elsewhere 
Josephus calls Gadara, on the very banks of the Yarmuk, 
the capital of Peraea. 2 North of the Yarmuk Peraea did 
not stretch. By Herod's will, confirmed by Augustus, 
Peraea was assigned with Galilee to Antipas. Geo- 
graphically this was an awkward conjunction, for Galilee 
is the district with which Peraea has the slightest natural 
connection, while it was thus cut off from the regions 
immediately opposite, across the Yarmuk and the Jordan. 
There were, however, reasons, both racial and religious, 
for the arrangement. North of the Yarmuk the inhabi- 
tants were mainly Greek, and across the Jordan Samaria 
was Samaritan ; but in Peraea, as in Galilee, Jews formed 
the bulk of the population ; 3 and, narrow as the strip 
must have been which connected the two provinces, it 
formed an easy and convenient passage. The Jews 
always regarded Peraea, Galilee, and Judaea as the three 

1 iii. Wars, iii, 3. 

3 iv. Wars, vii. 3. Schlatter, however {Zur Topographic u. GeschichU 
Palastinas, 48 ff.), insists that another Gadara or Gadora, probably Es-Salt, 
is here meant. 

3 Josephus, xx. Antt. i. 1 ; iv. Wart, vii. 4-6. 



54-0 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Jewish provinces ; 1 and when the Galilean pilgrims came 
up to the feasts at Jerusalem by Persea, they felt they had 
Jesus in travelled all the way on Jewish soil. When 
Perasa. Mark says, Christ comet h into the borders of 
judcea and over Jordan, it is Persea that he means by 
the latter. 2 Here Christ met with Jewish doctors, who 
tempted Him, with a Jewish ruler who knew the law, and 
with Jewish mothers who brought their children to Him, 
that He might lay His hands upon them. 

North of the Jabbok Peraea intermingled with 'the 
region of Decapolis.' 3 Only in a vague way can Deca- 
polis be called a geographical quantity. It was really the 
part of Eastern Palestine in which lay the cities of that 
famous league, their suburbs and the considerable terri- 
tories over which they exercised rights of property and 
influence. These cities lay mostly south of the Yarmuk, 
but there were at least four to the north of that river. 
As we are to discuss them separately, more need not 
be said here. 

When we come north of the Yarmuk, the definition of 
boundaries and names in the Greek period is much more 
Philip's difficult. Our starting-point is Philip's legacy 
Tetrarchy. un der the will of Herod, confirmed by Augustus 
in 4 B.C. According to this, Philip's tetrarchy comprised 
Gaulanitis, Batanea, Trachonitis, Auranitis, and a certain 
' part of the house of Zenodorus' about Paneas, or practi- 
cally all the territory from Hermon to the Yarmuk and 
the frontier of Nabatea, which ran to the south of Kanatha 

1 So frequently on the Mishna. Neubauer, Geog. du Talmud. 

- Mark x. i., according to Westcott and Hort's reading: rd 6pia t9)% 
'lovdaias teal irepav rod 'lopdavov. 

3 Pliny, H.N. v. 16 : Decapolitana Rcgio. Note his words, 'has urbes 
intercursant. 



Divisions and Names oj Eastern Palestine 541 



and Hebran, but to the north of Bosra and Salkhat. 1 The 
same is defined by the authorised version of Luke as 
Iturcea and the region of Trachonitis, or, as some prefer to 
render it, the region Ituraan and of Trachonitis} 

There can be no doubt about Gaulanitis. That pro- 
vince must have been practically the same as the present 
Jaulan, or all the country along the Jordan 

(a) Gaulanitis. 

Valley between the Yarmuk and Hermon, with 
an uncertain eastern border along perhaps the river 'Allan. 
Like Jaulan, Gaulanitis was divided into an Upper and 
a Lower Department, 3 and, just as to-day, the eastern 
coast of the Lake of Galilee was cut off from it, and 
administered from Tiberias. 4 The northern end of the 
Gaulanitis seems also to have been known by the names 
of Ulatha 5 and the district of Paneas. 

Nor is there much difficulty about Auranitis. The 
name is the same as Hauran. We have nowhere a defini- 
tion of its limits, but probably, like Hauran 

m • . , , . . {b) Auranitis. 

to-day, it was properly the great plain east of 

Jaulan, 6 with the same loose extension south to the 

1 xvii. Antt. viii. i, Gaulanitis, Trachonitis, and Paneas; xi. 4, Batanea, 
Trachonitis, Auranitis, and a certain part of the house of Zenodorus ; xviii. 
Antt. iv. 6, Trachonitis, Gaulanitis, and the nation of the Bataneans ; 
ii. Wars, vi. 3, Batanea, Trachonitis, Auranitis, and certain parts of Zeno's 
house about Jamnia, for which read Paneas. In iii. Wars, iii. 5 : The 
region of Gamala, and Gaulanitis, and Batanea, and Trachonitis are given 
as the parts of the kingdom of Agrippa. ' This country begins at Mount 
Libanus,' i.e. Anti-Lebanon or Hermon, 'and the fountains of Jordan, and 
reaches breadthway to the Lake of Tiberias,' i.e. the south end, 'and in 
length extends from a village called Arpha,' unknown, 1 as far as Julias,' i.e. 
Bethsaida on the Jordan. ' Its inhabitants are Jews and Syrians mixed.' For 
the frontier between Philip's tetrarchy and Nabatea, see pp. 617, 619, 621. 

' Luke iii. I : ttJs 'Irovpalas Kal Tpaxuvlridos x^/acts. 

* Josephus, iv. Wars, i. t. 4 See p. 416, n. 1. 

6 Perhaps the same name as the modern Lake Huleh. Josephus, xv. 
Antt. x. 3. See p. 481. 6 gee p, 536. 



542 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Nabatean border, 1 and south-eastwards to the Jebel 
Hauran, the Mons Alsadamus or Asalmanos of Ptolemy. 2 
Our difficulties begin with Batanea. Batanea was the 
Greek form of the ancient Bashan, 3 and was originally 
applied, like the latter, in a general way, to all 

{c) Batanea. ^_ « t» - • 

the country north of the Yarmuk. But in a 
special sense Batanea was distinguished from Trachonitis 
and Auranitis as only a part of Philip's tetrarchy. 4 It 
bordered on Trachonitis, 5 that is, the territory round the 
Leja ; the road by which Jewish pilgrims came from 
Babylon to Jerusalem passed across it, 6 and it seems to 
have been near to the territory of Gamala in Gaulanitis. 7 
Most probably, therefore, Batanea lay between the Leja 
and Gilead, in the present En-Nukra. 8 Certainly the 
name was still here in the fourth century 9 and in the 
tenth ; 10 but it has now drifted, as we have seen, round to 
the easu of the Leja. 11 Very doubtful is the suggestion 
that we should recognise Batanea in the Bethany beyond 
Jordan, where John was baptizing} 2 

1 This is probable from the fact that Zenodonis wished to sell Auranitis 
to the Nabateans, xvii. Antt. x. 2. 

2 Wetzstein, p. 90 : 'AtreXSa/ios, ' Aaa\/xavos, 'AXaahafxos. 

» Sojosephus, iv. Antt. vii. 4; ix. Antt. viii. 1 ; and so the Onotnasticon, 
art. Baadv : avrr) Baaavlrts if vvv KaKov^vi] Ba.Tava.la, 

4 xv. Antt. x. 1 : i. Wars, xx. 4. In his Life, II, Josephus talks of 
'the Trachonites in Batanea.' Ecbatana, in this section, should probably 
be read Badvpa, see p. 618. 

5 xvii. Antt. ii. 1: 'the toparchy called Batanea, which country is 
bounded by Trachonitis. ' 6 Ibid. 2. 

7 This is to be inferred from Josephus, Life, 11. 8 See p. 536. 

9 Eusebius^ Onomasticon, places Astaroth and Edrei or Adraa in Batanea. 

10 Idrisi (quoted by Wetzstein, Reisebericht, 87) places Edrei in Betheniyeh. 

11 See p. 537- 

13 John's Gospel, i. 28, according to the best reading (Westcott and Hort). 
The suggestion is Conder's (T. W.). Bethany must be the name of a town, 
denned as across Jordan, to distinguish it from the other Bethany. Batanea 
would have stood without such definition. 



Divisions and Names of Eastern Palestine 543 



Trachonitis was the territory which contained theTrachon 
or Trachons. These are described by Strabo as ' the two 
so-called Trachones' lying 'behind Damascus.' 1 

m , , ~ , ,■(<*) Trachonitis. 

The name, the only Greek one among those 
we are discussing, corresponds exactly to the two great 
stretches of lava, 1 the tempests in stone/ which lie to the 
south-east of Damascus — the Leja and the Safa. 2 Each 
of these is called by the Arabs a Wa'ar, a word meaning 
rough, stony tract, and thus equivalent to Trachon. The 
latter, beyond the reach of civilisation, was little regarded, 
and the Leja became known as the Trachon par excellence^ 
as is proved by two inscriptions at either end of it — 
in Musmi'eh, the ancient Phaena, and at Bereke, each 
of which is called a chief town of the Trachon. 3 Now the 
Trachonitis was obviously the Trachon, plus some terri- 
tory round it* In the north it extended westward from 
the borders of the Leja to the districts of Ulatha and 
Paneas in the northern Jaulan ; 5 and in the south it 
bordered with Batanea, 6 but also touched Mons Alsa- 
damus, the present Jebel Hauran. 7 Philo uses the name 
Trachonitis for the whole tetrarchy of Philip. 8 

1 Strabo xvi. 2. 20. T/jaxcif = a rough, stony place. 
* Wetzstein, Rdstbericht, 36 ff. 

8 That in Musmieh is given by Burckhardt, p. 117, and Wadd., 2524; 
date about 225 a.d. That in Bereke is given by Wadd., 2396. The 
word used is firjTpoKwpua, which, since it is used twice, can scarcely be 
metropolis, as Merrill (East of Jordan^ p. 20) translates, but is chief town of 
a group of villages. 

4 Josephus gives Tp&xw in xv. Antt. x. I (cf. xvi. Antt. iv. 6), but in the 
parallel passage, i. Wars, xx. 4, Tpaxuvlrts. 

5 xv. Antt. x. 3. The Le\& itself could scarcely be described as bordering 
with Ulatha. 6 Josephus, xvii. Antt. ii. I, 2. 

7 Ptolemy (v. 1 5. 4) speaks of the Tpax^vlrai "Appafies under the Mons 
Alsadamus. 

8 Legat. ad Cajum, 41. In the fourth century Eusebius places Tracho 
nitis north-east of Iiosra, south of Damascus, and in the desert. 



544 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



The portion of Philip's tetrarchy most difficult to define 
is the Ituraean. Did this cover or overlap Trachonitis, or 
was it a separate province ? Luke's reference 1 
is ambiguous, and we have no modern echo of 
the name to guide us. 2 In ancient times much is said of the 
Itursei, a vigorous,emphatic breed of men, famous as archers. 
They are sung by Virgil and Lucan ; 3 they fight with Caesar 
in Africa ; 4 they rattle with their arrows through the 
Forum itself, a defiant bodyguard for Mark Antony, till 
Cicero cries out against the insult to the Senate. 6 They 
were wild border-men between Syria and Arabia, to both 
of which they were reckoned by ancient writers. They 
were of an Ishmaelite stock, 6 like the Nabateans, and 
Strabo speaks of them as mixed with Arabs, and as in- 
habiting the same inaccessible highlands -as the Arabs. 7 It 
is probably because of their semi-nomadic character that 
for long there was no region definitely called Itursea; except 
once by Tacitus, the name is not used as a noun before 
the fourth century of our era, and doubtfully even then. 8 

1 Luke iii. I. See p. 541, n. 2. 

* Jedur, Jusjs-, the name of the plain to the north of Hatfran, has been 
quoted by many as equivalent to Itursea (Robinson, Conder, etc.), but on 
what grounds it is impossible to see. The words are utterly different. 

3 Georg. ii. 448 ; Pharsalza, vii. 230, 514. Reland also quotes Vibius 
Sequester, de Gentibus : ' Ithyrei usu sagittae periti.' 

* Bell. Afric. 20. 

6 ' They ' — "the barbarians," as he calls them — ' filled these very benches.' 
— Philippics, ii. 19, 112; xiii. 18. 

6 They are no doubt the same as the -ilftt, Jetur, of Gen. xxv. 15, men- 
tioned with other Ishmaelite tribes of Arabs. Cf. I Chron. i. '30, v. 19. 

7 xvi. ii. 18 : t6. p.kv ofiv dpeiua lxoi»<n ttAvtol 'Irovpahi re xal "Apaf3(s. 
20 : eirecra irpbs to. 'Ap&fiwi- /j.eprj kclI tQv 'Irovpaiiov &va/j.l£ Spy 5v<j(3&Ta. 

8 Professor W. M. Ramsay, Expositor for January, February, April 1894. 
The only Greek passage in which Ituraea appears before the fourth century 
is Josephus xiii. Antt. xl 3, according to the older editions : UoXefxr/aas 
'IrovpaLav. But this should be as in Niese's edition 'Irovpalovs, which is 
given in some codices, and is more suitable to the grammar. See 



Divisions and Names of Eastern Palestine 545 



But the tribe had a more or less distinct territory, on which, 
following the example of many other nomads of the Syrian 
border, they settled for a time, as a kingdom with a capital. 
Schurer has proved this territory to have been in the main 
Anti-Lebanon, their capital Chalcis in the Beka'; for a time 
the sway of their ruler extended over Lebanon also. 1 In 
105 B.C. their territory bordered with Galilee, 2 and Schurer 
thinks their name covered also a part of Galilee ; but this 
is improbable. If the name thus spread down the slopes 
of Anti- Lebanon westwards to Galilee, it may also have ex- 
tended down the same hill south-eastwards upon the dis- 
tricts of Paneas, and eastwards towards Trachonitis. The 
Iturseans were Arabs, and Strabo's statement that they 
inhabited inaccessible highlands along with Arabs must 
refer to districts east of Anti-Lebanon. We gather, then, 
that the Ituraeans extended a good deal farther east than 
Schurer seems willing to admit. At the same time Strabo 
carefully distinguishes the two Trachonsfrom the parts occu- 
pied by Ituraeans and Arabs together. We may^ therefore 

Expositor for March 1894, p. 236. This altered reading removes the last 
Greek precedent for interpreting tt}s 'Irovpaias in Luke iii. 1 as a noun. 
Schurer still speaks of Itursea as a noun, quoting Josephus, xiii. Antt. 
xi. 3 according to the reading 'Irovpalav. 

1 Schurer, History of the Jewish People, Eng. ed., div. i. vol. ii., Appen- 
dix i. : 'The History of Chalcis, Itursea, and Abilene.' His evidence for 
Anti-Lebanon is fourfold. (1) Josephus, xiii. Antt. xi. 3, places the Ituraean 
country in the north of Galilee, in 105 B.C. (2) On an inscription of about 
6 A.D. (alluded to by Prof. Ramsay, p. 147) Q. ^Emilius Secundus relates 
that being sent by Quirinius ' adversus Iturseos in Libano monte castellum 
eorum cepi ' {Ephemeris Epigraphica, 1881, 537-542). (3) Dion Cassius 
(xlix. 32) calls Lysanias king of the Ituraeans, and the same writer (lix. 12) 
and Tacitus {Ann. xii. 23) call Soemus governor of the same ; but Lysanias 
ruled the Lebanon district from the sea to Damascus, with his capital at 
Chalcis, and Soemus was tetrarch at Lebanon (Josephus, Vita, xi. ). (4) 
Above all, Strabo puts the Ituraeans in Anti-Lebanon (xvi. ii. 16) : ttjp 
'Irovpaliov dpetvrjv. 1 8 : rivh. Kal opeivd £p oh t) XoXkIs ticnrep 6.Kp6iro\i$ toC 
\{aa<Tijov{i.e. the Beka'). 2 xiii. Antt. xi. See p. 414. 

2 M 



546 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



conclude that the Ituraeans, though scattered towards the 
Trachonitis, occupied a distinct territory. About 25 B.C., 
however, part of the Ituraean domains on the south of 
Hermon was under the same ruler as Trachonitis, Zeno- 
dorus by name. 1 Again, in 20 B.C., that same part of 
the Ituraean territory and Trachonitis were both under 
Herod ; and from 4 B.C. to 34 A.D. they were both under 
Philip. 2 Now, it is not impossible that the names of terri- 
tories which bordered each other and were under the same 
ruler should have overlapped. As a fact, we have seen that 
Philo called all Philip's tetrarchy by the name of Tracho- 
nitis. Conversely, did the name 1 Ituraean ' spread across 
Trachonitis ? We have no evidence that it did during the 
first century. But the fact is possible. Within the last few 
years the Druzes emigrating from Lebanon have bestowed 
their name on the Jebel Hauran, which is as often called the 
Jebel Druz. The Ituraeans might have effected a similar 
transference of their name to the Trachonitis, especially 
in 6 A.D., when the Romans captured their seats in Anti- 
Lebanon. 8 At the same time Strabo, writing after this 
event, still keeps the Ituraean territory and Trachonitis 
quite distinct. The questions, therefore, whether Luke 
meant to signify by his words two distinct portions of 
Philip's tetrarchy, or two equivalent or overlapping names 
for it ; and whether, on either of these interpretations 
of his words, he was correct — are questions to which the 
geographical data of the first century supply us with no 

1 xv. Antt. x. I ; i. Wars, xx. 4. ' Zenodorus, who had leased the house 
of Lysanias, king of the Ituraeans ' (Dion Cassius, xlix. 32), which included 
Ulatha and Paneas and the country round about. 

s In whose tetrarchy ' a certain part of the house of Zenodorus ' represent! 
the Ituraean region south and south-east of Hermon. 

* See previous page, note I, No. (2). 



Divisions and Names of Eastern Palestine 547 



certain answer. It is quite true that Eusebius in the fourth 
century makes Ituraea and Trachonitis equivalent ; but 
the name Ituraea was dead by his day, and his evidence 
cannot be ranked with that of the first century. 1 

Behind Ituraea, on the Upper Abana or Barada, lay 
Abilene, which Luke gives as the tetrarchy of Lysanias, 2 
and in the Beka' Chalcis, but these are beyond our limits. 

In New Testament times the whole region to the east 
and south of Eastern Palestine was known as Arabia. 
The population were an Arab tribe or tribes .Arabia'— The 
known as the Nabateans, 3 who at the beginning Nabateans. 
of the third century before Christ had settled down partly 
to agriculture and partly to commerce. About 100 B.C. 
they became a powerful kingdom. Their capital was 
Petra, 4 but their influence extended all round Syria, from 
Damascus, which fell into their hands in 87 B.C., after they 
had defeated the Syrians, 5 to Gaza, 6 and far in to the 
centre of Arabia. 7 Their inscriptions are scattered over 
all Eastern Palestine, where they had many settlements, 
and in Arabia, but have even been discovered in Italy, 
proving the extent of their trade. 8 Their relations with 
Rome we shall follow later on. 9 

1 This is abridged from my article in the Expositor for March 1894. See 
further, p. 554. 

2 Luke iii. I. The capital of Abilene was Abila, the ruins of which are still 
to be found at Suk on the Barada. 

3 Identified by some with the Nebaioth of the Old Testament. 

4 Josephus, xiv. Antt. iv. 5 ; xvii. Antt. iii. 2, etc. etc.; i. Wars, vi. 2, 
etc. ; Straboxvi. ii. 34 ; iv. 2, 18 ; especially 21 ff.; Pliny, H.N. vi. 28. 

6 Josephus, xiii. Antt. xv. 2 ; i. Wars, iv. 7. 6 Ibid. xiii. Antt. xiii. 3. 

7 At Hejra, or Medain-es-Salih, on the Hajj route to Mecca, there are 
great numbers of Nabatean tombs and inscriptions. Doughty, Arabia 
Deserta,\o\. i. Corpus Inscript. Stmiticarum, Pars II. torn. i. 183 ff. 

8 C. I. S. , as in previous note ; also for the Greek ones, Waddington. 

9 Chapters xxvi. and xxix. 



548 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



IV. In Old Testament Times. 

When we pass back into the Old Testament we again 
find Eastern Palestine, now known as Over-Jordan or 
'Abarim, 1 divided into three parts. But the lines of 
division are not now Yarmuk and Jabbok, but 
Yarmuk and that line twenty-five miles to the south of Jab- 
bok, which divides the table-land of Moab from the ridges to 
the north of it. 2 All on the south of this to the Arnon is 
Mishor or Table-land ; all to the north of it, as far as the 
Yarmuk isGilead; and all to the north of Yarmuk is Bashan. 3 
The Mishor, 4 or Table-land, covered the southern half 
of the Belka'. It was sometimes called the 

(i) The Mishor. _, A , . _ . . , ... 

Mishor of Medeba, 5 which town on a high 
mound is conspicuous across the whole of it. It was also 
the Sharon of Eastern Palestine. 6 

The rest of the Belka', from Heshbon to the Jabbok, 
formed the southern half of Gilead ; 7 the other 
(2)Giiead. ^ between Jabbok and Yarmuk, 8 and 

was therefore equivalent to the modern district of 'Ajlun. 9 

1 TTV "Oy, sometimes with the addition of nrhtD, or eastward. D'HSJ^ 
men or regions on the other side. 

2 Practically coincident with the Wady Hesban. 

3 For these three divisions, see Deut. iii. io ; iv. 43 ; cf. Josh. xx. 8 j 
xiii. 9. 

4 ""llt^ftn, Auth. Eng. Ver., plain country , or plain; Rev. Ver., plain ; 

margin, table-land. 5 Josh. xiii. 9, 16. 

6 Sharon, from the same root as TIK^D, 1 Chron. v. 16. Neubauer, Geog. 
du Talmud, 47 ff. 

7 Deut. iii. 12: half Mount Gilead. Josh. xii. 2: half Gilead even to the 
river Jabbok. 

8 Deut. iii. 13: the rest of Gilead. Josh. xii. 5, cf. I Kings iv. 19. 

• P. 536. The Yarmuk was the northern border, for (1) the country of 
Gad, which was practically Gilead, ran up to the Sea of Galilee (Deut. iii. 16); 
and (2) Gilead marched with Geshur and Maachah (Josh. xiii. 11). These 
two probably lay in the Jaulan. 



Divisions and Names of Eastern Palestine 549 



The whole region was called Gilead, the Land of Gilead, 
and Mount Gilead, 1 the last of which names still survives 
upon the long ridge south of the Jabbok, the Jebel Jela'ad. 2 
On one occasion Gilead is used for Gad. 3 But with that 
singular elasticity which characterises all names across 
Jordan, Gilead is at least twice used of all Eastern Pales- 
tine to Dan. 4 This seems to be the sense of the word in 
the books of Maccabees ; 6 Josephus uses it with both the 
narrower and the wider application. 6 

Bashan, or The Bashan, 7 had its eastern border on 
Salcah, the present Salkhat, the nearest town 

(3) Bashan. 

of any importance to the Arabian desert, 8 and 

included Edrei, 9 Ashtaroth, 10 the present Tell-Ashtar, and 

1 In the Hexateuch JE uses all three names. Gilead, Num. xxxii. 26 
(J); Land of Gilead, Num. xxxii. i.(JE), Josh. xvii. 5, 6 (JE) ; Mount 
Gilead, Gen. xxxi. 21 (E), 25 (J). D always uses Gilead (Deut. ii. 36, iii. 
15, 16, xxxiv. 1 (D or R?) ; Josh. xii. 2, 5, xiii. n), except once, when it 
uses Mount Gilead (Deut. iii. 12). P uses both Gilead (Josh. xiii. 25, 31) 
and Land of Gilead (Num. xxxii. 29; Josh. xxii. 9, 13, 15, 32). 

2 Burckhardt, Syria, 348. 

3 Judges v. 17, cf. 1 Sam. xiii. 7. 

4 Deut. xxxiv. 1 ; Josh. xxii. 9, 13, 15, 32. 

6 Ta\aa8, I Mace. v. 1, 17, etc. TaXaadiris, v. 20. It excludes Ammon 
and Jazer to the south, but includes part of Hauran, cf. xiii. 22 ; Judith i. 
8 ; xv. 5. 

* i. Antt. xix. 11. The hill Gulad, the country TaXadrjvr} ; iv. Antt. v. 3; 
vi. Antt. v. 1 ; ix. Antt. viii. 1 : TaXaaSiTis, so also LXX.; xii. Antt. viii. 2, 
3 ; in 3 for 1 Galilee ' read « Gilead ' ; xiii. Antt. xiii. 4. 

7 The article is used in all historical statements defining the kingdom of 
Og, who is always king of the Bashan (Num. xxi. 33 ; Deut. i. 4, etc. ; even 
Psalms cxxxv. 11, cxxxvi. 20), or the territories of Manasseh (Josh. xvii. I, 
xxi. 6, etc. ) except 1 Chron. v. 23 ; also sometimes in poetry (Deut. xxxiii. 
20), and in prophecy (Isa. ii. 13; Jer. xxii. 20; 1. 19; Amos iv. 1). But 
more often in prophecy and poetry it is omitted. Psalm xxii. 13 (Eng. 12); 
lxviii. 17, 23 (Eng. 16, 22); Isa. xxxiii. 9; Ezek. xxvii. 6, xxxix. 18 ; 
Micahvii. 14 ; Nahum i. 4; Zech. xi. 2. 

8 Deut. iii. 10; Josh. xii. 4, xiii. 11 ; 1 Chron. v. 11. 
1 Deut. iii. 10; Josh. ix. 10. 

10 Deut. i. 4 ; Josh. ix. io, xii. 4, xiii. 12, 31. 



550 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Golan. 1 That is to say, Bashan proper covered the land 
known in Greek times as Batanea, the southern end of the 
great plain of Hauran. 2 In this narrower application 
the name does not appear to have come west to Jordan, 
for between it and that river lay Geshur and Maachah. 3 
But in a wider sense Bashan extended to Hermon, and 
covered all the land north of Gilead. 4 The long high edge 
of mountain to the east of the Lake of Galilee is the 
Bashan which the prophets so often couple with CarmeL 
Dan, says a poet, is a lions whelp ; he leapeth from 
Bashan? This carries the name to the very foot of Her- 
Huho f mon. Whether Hermon itself was known as 
Bashan. mount or mountains of Bashan, or whether 

the latter name designates the whole of that eastern range, 
is uncertain. The poet says, mountains of bold heights* arc 
the mount of Bashan. This epithet, not applicable to the 
long, level edge of the table-land, might refer either to the 
lofty triple summits of Hermon, 7 or to the many broken 
cones that are scattered across Bashan, and so greatly 
differ in their volcanic form from the softer, less imposing 
heights of Western Palestine. 8 

1 Deut. iv. 43 ; Josh. xx. 8, xxi. 27. 

1 1 Chron. v. 23 seems to limit Bashan to the south of this plain. 

s Josh. xii. 4, xiii. 11, 13, where it is implied that Geshur and Maachah 
were west of Bashan, — probably occupying the present Jaulan. Cf. Guthe, 
Z.D.P. V. xii. 232. 

4 Deut. iv. 43 ; 2 Kings x. 33. B Deut. xxxiii. 22. 

6 Psalm lxviii. 17. D^^SJ, protuberances, bulgings, humps ; hump- 
backed, Lev. xxi. 20. In the Targums is a hill-top, eyebrows. 

7 So Olshausen, and recently Baethgen ; cf. p. 477. 

8 So Delitzsch. Wetzstein compares |"023 with the Syriac gabnun and 
the Arabic gabulun, ' a roof with a gable end.' He is doubtless wrong when 
(followed by Cheyne) he confines the general term mount = range, or moun- 
tains of Bashan, to the Jebel Hauran, even though it should be true that the 
Hill of Salmon, quoted in the previous verse, be the same as the name Ptolemy 
gives to that hill, the Mons Asalmanos (v. 15). Cf. Guthe, Z.D.P. V. xii. 231. 



Divisions and Names of Eastern Palestine 551 



Within Bashan lay 'Argob, probably equivalent to our 
word 1 Glebe.' 1 It bordered on Geshur and Maachah, 2 and 
contained threescore fortified cities. Some- 

' Argob. 

times 'Argob seems equivalent to the king- 
dom of Og in Bashan, and sometimes to all Bashan. 
But the name which is always given it, of The Measured 
Lot 3 of Argob, implies that it was some well-defined 
district within Bashan. 4 For the same reason many 5 
have thought it to be the Leja, which lies so well 
marked off from the surrounding country, but for such an 
identification there is no further evidence. Nor was the 
Argob identical with the Havoth-Jair, or 

n~> •// r t • a s>.f Havoth-Jair. 

1 ent-villages of J airy Of the latter we have 
two different accounts : one that they were camps taken 
by Jair, the son of Manasseh, in the days of Moses ; 7 the 
other that they were thirty cities belonging to the thirty 
sons of Jair, a Gileadite, one of the minor Judges. 8 The 
first of these accounts has been mixed with the account of 
the conquest of Argob in a verse in Deuteronomy, which 
bears proof of having been deliberately altered to effect 
this. 9 Argob and Havoth-Jair were not the same ; Argob 

1 3«1S or aunNfl, probably from 1T\, a clod. 2 Deut. iii. 14. 

' tan. 

4 It is always given as in Bashan. Deut. iii. 4, 13 f.; 1 Kings iv. 13. 

6 So Porter, Conder, Henderson, P.E.F. map. 

s 

9 W mru mn is probably the same as the Arabic hiwi', pi. 

s 

<L^a-!» 'Ahwiyat, the Bedawee goat hair-tent, applied also to a collection 
of houses. Freytag, sub voce. Hence probably the Hivites, ^n, got their 
name. 

7 Num. xxxii. 41. From an uncertain source, perhaps E. 
■ Judges x. 3, 5. 

8 Deut. iii. 14. I do not think we can say with Dillmann and others that 
this verse is a sheer insertion (along with the two following) ; for a sheer 
insertion would not bear marks of having been altered from something else, 



552 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



was a region full of walled and gated cities ; the Havoth- 
Jair were a collection of Bedouin camps. But the absolute 
proof of their difference is that a passage in the First 
Book of Kings expressly separates them, placing the camps 
of Jair in Gilead, and Argob and its cities in Bashan. 1 

The only other Old Testament name in Eastern Pales- 
tine which it is necessary to mention is Hauran or 
Hauran— Havran of Ezekiel, which he gives, along with 
•Hollow.' Damascus and Gilead, as comprising Eastern 
Palestine. 2 There is little doubt that this is the same 
name as we have in Auranitis and the modern Hauran, 
which also, like the Hebrew, is a proper name, and ought 
not to have the definite article attached to it. It is at 
least worth noting that a district lying so hollow between 
mountains, and to part of which the Arabs at the present 
day give the name of their hollow hearth, en-Nukra, should 

as this verse does. It tells us that Jair took the Hebel of Argob, singular, 
and called them plural. This must mean that a plural noun originally stood 
in place of the Hebel or lot of Argob {them, of course, cannot possibly be 
explained by the coasts of the intervening clause). This can only have been 
the tent-villages of Gilead, or some such expression. How clumsily the 
change has been made is seen from the fact that Bashan, [^StfTflK, has 
not been inserted in its proper place, which is earlier in the sentence, but 
now stands where it is quite ungrammatical. But even if either the above 
explanation or any other that has been given of the origin of this verse be 
not correct, the text is so evidently confused that we could not possibly 
prefer it to the clear evidence of verse 4 in the same chapter, which says 
the towns of Argob were not Havoth, tent-villages, but walled and gated 
cities; or to I Kings iv. 13, which separates Argob from Havoth -Jair, 
reckoning the former to Bashan, the latter to Gilead. But if for this 
reason we must put aside Deut. hi. 14, we must also strike out at least 
the last clause of Josh. xiii. 30, which calls the tent-villages of Jair cities, 
and, in contradiction to 2 Kings iv. 13, puts them in Bashan. Josh. xiii. 
30 is from P. 

1 1 Kings iv. 13. Here, however, it is only right to say that some 
regard the words, the villages of Jair the son of Manasseh in Gilead, as an 
insertion. Still we know from other passages that the Havoth-Jair were in 
Gilead, but Argob is always placed in Bashan. 

' Ezek. xlvii. 16, 18, pin. 



Divisions and Names of Eastern Palestine 553 



have a title capable of being split up into Havr or Hawr, 
meaning a hole, and -an, a common termination of place- 
names. 



These, then, are the greater divisions of Eastern Pales- 
tine, with their names respectively to-day, at the Crusades, 
in New Testament times, and in Old Testament times. We 
may sum them up in the following comparative table : — 



Name To-day. 



El-Ghuta(geogr.) 
Liwa of Damascus 
(administrative). 



Hauran (Mutas- 
serafiik of). 

(1) Jaulan. 

(2) Hauran 
proper. 

(3) Le J a - 

(4) A r d - e 1 - 
Betheniyeh. 

(5) En-Nukra. 

(6) Jebel Haur- 
an or Druz. 



(7) 'Ajlun. 



The Belka*. 



Practical continua- 
tion of the Belka'. 



At the Crusades. 



WHOLE TE 
Oultre-Jourdain. 

(a) DAM 



(t>) NORTH OF 



Suwete 

or 
Suhete, 



BETWEEN JAR 



BETWEEN JAB 



(e) SOUTH 

Seigneurie of 
Krak and Mont- 
real. 



In New Test. Times. 



RRITORY. 
Coele-Syria. 

ASCU9. 
j-Damascus. 

THE JARMUK. 

Tetrarchy of 
Philip ( + De- 
capolis, etc.). 

Gaulanitis. 

Auranitis. 

Trachon(itis). 
J-Batanea (?). 

Mount A(xa\fj.auos. 

MUK AND JAB 

Region of Deca- 
polis, with part 
of Persea. 

BOK AND ARN 
Peraea. 

OF ARNON. 

Nabatean terri- 
tory. 



In Old Test. Times. 



/Over -J or dan. 
\Abarim. 



Aram of Damascus. 



All Bashan. 
(+ Half-Gilead). 
f Geshur (?). 
1 Ma'achah (?). 
[ The town Golan. 
Hauran (Ezekiel). 

(?) 

Bashan, in narrower 
sense 
Argob (?) 
Mount Bashan (?) 



BOK. 
Half-Gilead. 



ON. 

I Half-Gilead. 
\ The Mishor. 



Moab. 



554 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



FURTHER NOTE ON THE ITUR^ANS AND TRACHONITIS 
— IN REPLY TO PROFESSOR RAMSAY. 

(To continue n. i on p. 547). 

Professor Ramsay has done me the honour to reply to my Expositor article 
(March 1894) in a kind article (April 1894, pp. 288 n. 1, 298-302), In reply 
I have space only for the following : — 

1. In answer to his note on p. 288, — I am his ally in so far as I have pro- 
duced some evidence for the possibility of his theory of the overlapping of 
Trachonitis and the Ituraean name (see above, p. 546). 

2. I repeat that (leaving the disputed Luke iii. 1 aside) there is no evidence 
of the fact of such an overlapping in the first century, except Eusebius. In 
his reply Professor Ramsay has not attempted to supply such evidence. 

3. My objection to Eusebius is not so much to his errors as a geographer for 
his own day (Ramsay, 301) as that his date in the fourth century makes his 
testimony about the first century inferior to that of a first century writer like 
Strabo, who carefully distinguishes the Trachons from the ' parts of the 
Iturseans.' 

4. I cannot but think that Professor Ramsay has been led to extend the 
Iturseans as far east as over the Trachon by his theory (which, on p. 300, he 
wrongly imputes to me) that ' the Itursei were the one warlike tribe of the 
whole region.' Most certainly they were not. To the east were other Arabs 
distinct from them, but partly mixed with them (Strabo xvi. ii. 18, 20). And 
there were the Nabateans (if these be distinct, which is doubtful, from Strabo's 
Arabs) in possession, when the Romans were not, of Damascus, and in 
alliance with the Arabs of the Trachon (see below, p. 617). 

5. When Professor Ramsay says that 'the true home of such a race {i.e. as 
the Ituraeans) is, he ventures to think, not the long-settled and well-governed 
land between Lebanon and An ti- Lebanon,' he ignores (a) how often in Syria 
such a land has been seized and governed by such a tribe ; and {b) what 
abundant evidence we have that Ituraeans did settle on Anti- Lebanon and in 
the Beka', with Chalcis as their capital. On this Schurer seems to me to be 
absolutely correct (see above, p. 545, especially n, \\ 



CHAPTER XXVi 
MOAB AND THE COMING OF ISRAEL 



For this Chapter consult Maps I. and III, 



MOAB AND THE COMING OF ISRAEL 

~^HE passage of the Arnon brings Israel clearly into 



-*» light upon Eastern Palestine. We have the names 
of the stations of their journey before this, but 

Israel's 

the sites of these are not now discernible, 1 and Passage of 
even the Brook Zered, which is given as the 
limit of the wilderness, did not mark the beginning of the 
Promised Land. 2 The Arnon is afterwards drawn as the 
southern frontier of Israel on this side of Jordan. Aroer 
on its banks was the Beersheba of the East, 3 and accord- 
ingly we find Israel, as soon as they cross it, entering upon 
their warfare for their heritage. 

That Israel's fighting began after the passage of the 
Arnon, was due to a recent change in the political dis- 
position of Eastern Palestine. Properly all sihon's 
the country from Jabbok to Arnon belonged, Conc i uests - 
northwards to Ammon, southwards to Moab. But shortly 
before Israel's arrival, Sihon, an Amorite king from Western 

1 Num. xxi. 10 f. Oboth, somewhere on the flinty plateau to the east of 
Edom, the Ard Suwwan or Flint Ground, Arabia Petraea ; see Doughty, 
Arabia Deserta, i. 28, 29. Ije-Abarim (so called to distinguish it from the Iim 
of Judah, Jo. xv. 29), hi the wilderness in front of Moab towards tke sunrising. 

2 The Zered cannot be the great wady rising east from the south end of the 
Dead Sea to the Hajj Station, Kula't el Jarahy, as marked on the P.E.F. 
red. map, 1890; but must have lain nearer Arnon, either in the W. 'Ain 
Feranjy, or the Seil S'aideh, a branch of the Arnon (so Dillmann). But all 
cites in this region are problematical. 

3 Deut. ii. 36, iii. 8, 16 ; Tosh. xiii. 16. 




558 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Palestine, had crossed the Jordan, and driving Moab 
southwards over Arnon, and Ammon eastwards to the 
sources of the Jabbok, had founded a kingdom for himself 
between these two rivers. Israel had come up the eastern 
border of Moab, but, in order to reach Jordan, was forced 
to strike westward across Sihon's territory. Moses sent 
and asked for rights of passage. Sihon refused, and 
Israel prepared to fight him. They were now upon some 
branch of the Arnon, but high up it. Their route had 
perhaps followed the present Hajj road. 1 

The Arnon is the present Wady Mojib, an enormous 
trench across the plateau of Moab. It is about 1700 feet 
The Arnon deep, and two miles broad from edge to edge 
as a frontier. of the cliffs which bound it, but the floor of the 

valley over which the stream winds is only forty yards 
wide. 2 About thirteen miles from the Dead Sea the 
trench divides into two branches, one running north-east, 
the other south-south-east, and each of them again divid- 
ing into two. The whole plateau up to the desert is thus 
not only cut across, but up and down, by deep ravines, 
and a very difficult frontier is formed. You see at once 
why the political boundary of Eastern Palestine has 
generally lain here, 3 and not farther south. The southern 
branch, the present Seil Sa'ideh, called also Safiah, is the 
principal one, 4 but all the branches probably carried the 
name Arnon from the main valley right up to the desert. 
It is not the valley but the valleys of Arnon, which are 

1 Num. xxi. 21, where the embassy to Sihon for permission to journey 
through his land is related after the list of the stations on the journey ; the 
Deuteronomist (ii. 26) states that the embassy was sent from the wilderness 
of Kedemoth. 2 Burckhardt, Syria, 372. 

3 Except in the time of the Crusades, and at the present day. 

4 Burckhardt, p. 373. It carries the name Mojib up to the desert 



Moab and the Coming of Israel 559 



named in the ancient fragment of song celebrating Israel's 
passage : — 

l Waheb in Sufah [we passed] and the valleys of Arnon, 
And the cliff of the valleys, which stretches to Ar's seat, 
And leans on the border of Moab? 1 

The first words are obscure. Sufah may survive in 
Safiah. 2 The cliffs or declivities of all these Moab valleys 
are impressive, and every traveller speaks of them. 3 'Ar is 
not Rabbath Moab, 4 which lies far south of the Arnon, but 
'Ar, or 'Ir, of Moab, now indiscoverable, which stood on 
Moab's border. 6 On the north bank, just before the valley 
divides, stand the ruins of 'Ar'ar, the Aroer on the lip of 
the valley of Arnon, which we have already called the 
Beersheba of Eastern Palestine. 6 

From the Upper Arnon, then, — the Deuteronomist calls 
the place the Wilderness of Kedemoth? — Israel sent to 
Sihon for permission to cross his territory, and The war 
Sihon refusing came out to offer them battle with Sihon> 
at Jahaz, a strong place in the neighbourhood of Kede- 
moth, 8 that is, in the south-east corner of Sihon's territory. 
The result was the total defeat of Sihon, and the occu- 

1 Num. xxi. 14, 15. ForWaheb (in the accusative case) LXX. read 2wo# 
a 

3 Cf. especially Burckhardt, pp. 400, 401. Cliff is a singular not else 
where found, but in the plural Jlll^X, frequently used for the declivities of hills. 

4 As in P.E.F. red. map, 1890, and Murray's Guide. 

5 So also Dillmann. It may be the Mehatit el Haj. 

8 P. 557- 7 Deut. ii. 26, 27. 

8 Jahaz, }*iV, Num. xxi. 23 ; Deut. ii. 32 ; Isa. xv. 4 ; Jer. xlviii. 34 ; but 
Jahzah, ITCH*, Josh. xiii. 18; xxi. 36; Judges xi. 20; Jer. xlviii. 21 ; and 1 
Chron. vi. 63 — is mentioned twice with Kedemoth, Josh. xiii. 18 ; xxi. 36 f., 
which since the wilderness is called after it must have lain east ; twice seems to 
be mentioned as a limit of Moab, distant from Heshbon, Isa. xv. 4; Jer. xlviii. 
34; and once is placed on the plateau of Moab, lb. 21. On the Moabite 
Stone, lines 19, 20, the name is spelt like the shorter Hebrew form, and the 
place is given as a fortress and seemingly near Daibon. 



560 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 

pation of his country by the Israelites. Wherefore they 
that sing taunt-songs say, — the following 1 mashal ' opens 
with the taunt of the victorious Israel to the Amorites to 
return and rebuild their city (ver. 27), then (vv. 28, 29) 
describes how the Amorites had come to be there, namely, 
by previously taking the country from Moab, and returns 
(ver. 30) to the keynote of Israel's own victory — 

• 27 Come ye to Heshbon ! 

Let the city of Sihon be built and set up again / 

28 For fire had 1 gone forth from Heshbon, 
Flame from the fortress of Sihon, 
Had devoured l Ar of Moab, 

And consumed* the high places of Arnon. 

29 Wot to thee, Moab J 

Thou art undone, people of Chemosh / 
He hath given up his sons to be runaways^ 
His daughters to captivity, 
To the king of the A morites, Sihon ! 

30 But we shot at them, Heshbon was undone — unto Daibon, 
And we laid waste unto Nob ah (?) which lies on the desert? 3 

The war against Sihon has been declared by some 
critics to be unhistorical, and they refer the song to a con- 

Is it quest of Moab by Israel in the ninth century. 

historical? f heir reasons are that the war is narrated in 
only one of the documents of the Pentateuch, that the 

1 The verb, from its position in the clause, must be rendered by the 
pluperfect. 

2 So LXX. Kariiriev as if rh]}2- Hebrew text reads vJD : Baals or Lords 
<?/ the high places of Arnon. 

3 The text is here very uncertain. The above rendering is that of Dill- 
mann, based on the Peschito. Daibon is the proper spelling, as we see from 
pHof the Moabite Stone. Nophah is unknown (there is a Naifeh south-east 
of Ma 'in), but there was a Nobah to the north-east of Heshbon near Jogbehah 
(Judges viii. n). This, of course, would be inconsistent with the words, 
NITPmy "ItPN, for Medeba lies south of Hesbon. But the Peschito reads 
"DID by "Ifi^N, which is on the desert. LXX. read the last line ko.1 a/ 
ywcLLKet in rpoffe^Kavaav irup tnl Mw<£/3. 



Moab and the Coming of Israel 



song traces an invasion from north to south, not from south 
to north, and that if the words king of the Amorites, 
Sihon} be omitted, the whole reads clearly as the account 
of an invasion by Israel of Moab, beginning at Heshbon 
*and extending to the Arnon. But the document which 
tells the story is the oldest of all the documents ; its date, 
at the latest in the eighth century, forbids that its authors 
could have confused a war in the ninth century with one 
in the fourteenth ; and it is not contradicted by anything 
in the other documents. Moreover, such an invasion of 
Eastern Palestine by the Amorites of the west was 
possible ; while it is impossible to understand, if the facts 
were not as stated, any motive for the invention of the tale. 2 
Sihon being defeated, and Heshbon overthrown, the 
country was now clear for the advance of the great 
camp of Israel from the Arnon. Their goal 

Israel's pas- 

was the Jordan, at the north end of the Dead sage of ■ the 
Sea, and their nearest way lay first over the 
treeless Plateau, which stretches northward from Arnon, 
and then down one of the numerous glens which break 
from the west of Heshbon into the 'Arabah. The Plateau 
is without springs, and Israel's stations upon it would 
be determined by the three water-courses which cut it 
between the Arnon and Heshbon. One itinerary gives 
us four stations: Be'er, where Israel had to dig for water, 
and sang the Song of the Well, some undiscovered spot 
near the Upper Arnon; 3 Mattanah; 4 Nahaliel, or the 

1 Num. xxi. 29. 2 See Appendix on • The Wars with Sihon and Og.' 

3 Num. xxi. 16-18. In \Zb read (with the LXX.) from Be'er instead of 
from the wilderness. Be'er cannot be Daibon, Conder, P.E.F.Q. 1882, p. 
86 ; for Israel would not need to dig water there, and seems to have passed 
to the eastward. 

4 The only names to-day even remotely echoing this name are Umm 
Denieh and Butmah, the name of the upper course of the Wady Waleh. 

2 N 



562 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Valley of God, which is not an unfit name for the Wady 
Zerka Ma'in with its healing springs ; 1 Bamoth, 2 or High 
Places, which may be represented by any of the ancient 
cromlechs and altars about the Wady Jideid. 8 

At this point Israel were about to exchange the desert 
view, which had been their horizon during forty years, for 
the first full sight of the Promised Land. In the itinerary 
we have been following the next station is given as the 
glen that is in the field of Moab, by the headland of Pisgah, 
which looketh out over feshimon. 

During their journey over the Table-land, Israel had 
no outlook westward across the Dead Sea. For westward 
The edge of tne Plateau rises a little and shuts out all view, 
'the Plateau.' k ut on other side of the rise it breaks up 
into promontories slightly lower than itself, which run 
out over the 'Arabah and Dead Sea Valley, and afford 
a view of all Western Palestine. Seen from below, or 
from across Jordan, these headlands, rising three or four 
thousand feet by slope and precipice from the valley, 
stand out like separate mountains. But eastward they 
do not rise from the Moab Plateau — they are simply 
projections or capes of the latter, and you ride from it 
on to them without experiencing any difference of level, 
except, it may be, a decline of a few feet. Israel, passing 
Neboand Bamoth, had arrived at the inland end of 
Pisgah. one Q f t-h ese headlands — almost certainly that 
which breaks from the Plateau half way between Heshbon 
and Medeba, and runs out, under the name of Neba, nearly 

1 Conder, ibid. See p. 571, note 2. 

2 Not Bamoth in the valley, as the P.E.F. Red. Map, 1890, calls it (also 
Conder, P.E.F.Q., 1882, p. 86), following the mistaken rendering of the 
English version of Num. xxi. 20. Read from Bamoth to the glen or ravine. 

3 Conder, B.E.F.Q., 18S6, pp. 85 ff. ; Heih and Moab, 145 ff - 



V 

Moab and the Coming of Israel 563 

opposite the north end of the Dead Sea. The ridge is 
about two miles long, and its level top perhaps half a 
mile broad. It is of flinty limestone, mostly barren, yet 
where it breaks from the Plateau, fertile, and, on the July 
day we crossed, this end of it was covered with yellow 
corn and reapers. Before you descend from the rising 
ground, which alone divides it from the Plateau, you 
instinctively seek the nearest high mound for a last view 
backwards. There is the great plain of Moab, south- 
ward broken only by the eminence of Medeba and the 
hollow of Arnon, but in front of you it rolls away un- 
broken, unvaried, save by the shadows of a few clouds on 
the featureless hillocks, into the infinite East. You turn 
westward, descending through the corn-fields, and traverse 
the long flinty ridge to the limestone knoll upon it, which 
bears the name of Ras, or Head, of Ne?ba. You have lost 
the eastern view, but all Western Palestine is in sight ; 
only the hither side of the Jordan Valley is still invisible, 
and north and south the view is hampered by the near 
hills. Follow the ridge to its second summit, the Ras 
Siaghah, and you find yourself on a headland, which, 
though lower than Ras Neba, stands free of the rest of 
the range. The whole of the Jordan Valley is now open 
to you, from Engedi, beyond which the mists become 
impenetrable, to where, on the north, the hills of Gilead 
seem to meet those of Ephraim. The Jordan flows 
below: Jericho is visible beyond. Over Gilead, it is 
said, Hermon can be seen in clear weather, but the heat 
hid it from us. The view is almost that described as the 
last on which the eyes of Moses rested, the higher hills of 
Western Palestine shutting out all possibility of a sight 
of the sea. It is certainly the position described in the 



564 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



itinerary : the head of the Pisgah, which looketh down or 
over upon the face of feshimon, whether this latter be the 
wilderness of Judaea immediately across the Dead Sea, 
or the long stretch of waste-land on the east of Jordan, 
just below our point of view. 1 

It was probably the well-watered glen on the north of 
the Neba-Siaghah ridge, the present Wady 'Ayun Musa, 
■The Wells which Israel descended and camped in. It 
of Moses.' wou id depend on the season of the year 
whether the host stayed for some time about its plentiful 
waters, now called the 'Wells of Moses,' or at once 
descended to the warm plains of Shittim beside the 
Jordan. One thing is certain ; this journey, though it is 
described in the Book of Numbers before the war with 
Sihon, must have come after the latter. No host, so 
large and cumbered as this, could have ventured down 

1 Looketh down or over upon—T\t$£?p}, a verb used of God looking down 

from heaven, Ps. cii. 20 (19) ; and of men especially, looking out of, and down 
from, a window, 2 Sam. xxiv. 20 ; Gen. xxvi. 8 ; Song vi. 10. The chief 
idea seems to be not looking forth, but looking down, and, if this be so, then 
the Jeshimon of our present passage will not be the wilderness of Judsea, but 
the long tract of barren land east of Jordan, north of the Dead Sea, in which 
filD^'' 1 fTl lay, Josh. xii. 3 ; xiii. 20 ; Ezek. xxv. 9. Cf. Uillmann ad locum. 

Pisgah is always used with the article, either in the connection K'fcO 
rUDSH, summit of the Pisgah (Num. xxi. 20 ; xxiii. 14 (JE) ; Deut. iii. 27 ; 
xxxiv. 1), or as rUDsDH nVlKW or TCW% slopes of the Pisgah (Deut. iii. 
17 ; iv. 49 ; Josh. xii. 3, a Deuteronomic passage ; and Josh. xiii. 20, pro- 
bably from the Priestly Writing). The CiO is described as looking down on 
Jeshimon , over against Jericho, and commanding a view of Shittim. With 
regard to the etymology of the word it is plain that the name Siaghah, now 
attached to the foreland, has no connection with Pisgah, the letters of which, 
or their equivalents, are found in the name Ras Feshkah, a headland exactly 
on the other side of the Dead Sea. The name Mount Nebo, 133 "in, is 
found only in two passages, both of them probably Deuteronomic : Dt. xxxii. 
49, where it is given as one of the Abarim range, over against Jericho, and 
Dt. xxxiv. I, where it is said to be the same as Pisgah, LXX. Na/SaO. The 
town of Nebo is given in Num. xxxii. 3, 38 ; xxxiii. 47 Isa. xv. 2 ; Jer. 
xlviii. 1, 22; I Chron. v. 8, generally next to Baal-Meon. 



Moab and the Coming of Israel 565 



any of the glens from the Plateau to the Jordan before 
their own warriors had occupied Heshbon, for Heshbon, 
standing above them, commands these glens. 

To Nebo, again, the sacred story brings Moses to close 
his life — again to that long platform where the host, 
which he had guided through the desert for The burial 
forty years, first lost their desert horizon, and of Moses * 
saw the Promised Land open before them. And some- 
where below the platform the Lord buried Moses — in a 
valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth Peor, but no 
man knoweth of his sepidchre to this day. Between the 
streams that in these valley bottoms spring full-bo'rn 
from the rocks, and the merry corn-fields on the Plateau 
of Moab above, there are some thousand feet of slopes and 
gullies, where no foot comes, the rock is crumbling, and 
utter silence reigns, save for the west wind moaning through 
the thistles. Here Moses was laid. Who would wish to 
know the exact spot ? The whole region is a sepulchre. 

Nebo and the neighbouring hills were also the stations 
and altars of Balaam. Balak brought him from the 
Arnon, and first they took up their position The stations 
at Bamoth-Baal, which must have lain back of Balaam - 
from the edge of the hills, for Balaam could see from it 
only the farther edge of Israel's camp in the plain below. 1 
The seer's second station was in the field of Zophim, or 
the Gazers, which is given as on the head ofPisgah, 2 where 
seven altars were built. The third station was the head 
of Peor that looketh down on feshimon — the same index 
as is given for Nebo itself, yet probably a point still 

1 Num. xxii. 41. Bamoth-Baal was perhaps identical with Bamoth the 
station of Israel, xxi. 19. On the whole subject of Balaam's altars see 
Conder, P.E.F.Q. 1882; and Heth and Moab. 

2 Num. xxiii. 14. 



566 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



nearer to the plain of Shittim. 1 The places at which 
Balaam took his stand and looked for omens were all 
probably sanctuaries. The range is covered with the 
names of deity — Baal, Nebo, Peor. Nor could there be 
more suitable platforms for altars, nor more open posts 
for observing the stars or the passage of clouds, or the 
flight of birds across the great hollow of the 'Arabah. 2 
The field of Gazers was rightly named. To-day the hills 
have many ancient altars and circles of stones upon them. 3 

Besides the distant campaign against Og, king of 
The war Bashan, 4 Israel waged war — impossible to 
with Midian. avo id in those desert - bordering regions — 
with the Midianites. 5 No geographical data are given. 

The rest of the geography of Moab carries us into the 
period of the kings and prophets. 

The territory of Sihon between the Arnon and the Jab- 
bok, and as far east as Jazer, the border of the children of 
Reuben and Amnion, was divided between the two tribes 
Gad - of Reuben and Gad. These high, fresh moors, 

the dust of whose paths still bear no foot-marks save 
those of sheep and cattle, had attracted the two tribes, 
which, not crossing the Jordan, failed, like the others, to 
rise from the pastoral to the agricultural stage of life. 
They asked Moses for the land, and he divided it be- 
tween them. The division is hard to define : we have 

1 "liyS, a mountain of this name is not elsewhere found. 1iySJV3, Josh, 
xiii. 20, is given with Ashdoth Pisgah and Beth-Jeshimoth, which means 
probably that it lay well down towards the plain. Ommasticon gives opos 
$oyu>p by the ascent from Livias (Tell Rame) and Bed<poytbp, six Roman miles 
east from Livias. 

2 Cf. Num. xxiii. 23, where enchantment and divination should be omens, 
as of birds and clouds (cf. xxiv. 1, he went not, as at other times, to seek fot 
omens), and soothsaying by watching arrows or looking into entrails. 

» Conder, op. cit, * See pp. 575 ff. 6 Num. xxxi. 



Moab and the Coming of Israel 567 



two accounts. In one 1 the cities of the Reubenites cluster 
about Heshbon, while Gad's cities are both south on the 
Arnon and north of all Reuben's. In the other, 2 which 
belongs to a different document, Reuben has all to the 
south of Heshbon, Gad all to the north, the Wady 
Hesban probably being the boundary. Neither of these 
accounts is early, and the former probably represents the 
distribution of the two tribes at a period when Reuben 
was dwindling. 3 All we know is that both tribes must 
have had constant warfare with Moab, who would not 
be kept south of the Arnon, and that, in course of that 
warfare, Reuben disappeared from among the tribes of 
Israel. The Moabite inscription of the middle of the 
ninth century mentions the men of Gad, and 
places them immediately to the north of -The Moabite 
Arnon, but does not know of the men of 
Reuben. 4 Towards the beginning of the ninth century 
Moab was as far north as Medeba, 5 but Omri drove him 
back across the Arnon, and he was tributary to Israel all 
Omri's days and all Ahab's. 6 Then he revolted, and 

1 Num. xxxii. 34 ff. (E). Gad had Daibon, Ataroth (modern Attarus), Aroer, 
Ateroth-Sophan unknown, Jezer and Jogbeha in the north, near Jabbok, 
Beth-Nimra unknown, and Beth-Haran, see p. 488. Reuben had Heshbon, 
Elealeh, now El-Al, to the north of Heshbon, Kiriathaim, now Kureiyat, south 
of Wady Zerka Ma'in, Nebo, Baal-Me'on, and the unknown Shibmah. 

2 Josh. xiii. 15 ff. (P?). 

3 Cf. Stade, Gesch. 148. But Stade is surely wrong when he maintains 
that, at the time of the crossing of the Jordan, Reuben had no territory about 
Heshbon, and that he only came there later. There is no trace of this, and 
Stade himself owns not to be able to discover where Reuben's seat could be 
before it was Hesbon. 

* 1. 10 : ' men of Gad had dwelt in the land of Ataroth from of old.' 
5 Or MShedeba, Moabite Stone, 11. 7 and 8. 

• 2 Kings i. 1 ; iii. 5. Mesha puts his revolt in the middle of Ahab's 
reign, 1. 8. We might correct the Bible narrative by this contemporary 
document ; but the death of a king was the usual moment chosen for a revolt 
such as Mesha's. 



568 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



sweeping north, took and rebuilt, he tells us, all the towns 
we already know between the Arnon and Nebo. 1 It is 
interesting that he does not profess to have taken Hesh- 
bon. The kings of Judah, Israel and Edom contrived to 
defeat Moab, 2 but without result. Mesha or his successors 
must have pushed their conquests farther north, for in 
the time of the great prophets we find Moab, except for 
a short interval, in possession of all their ancient territory 
even north of the Wady Hesban. 3 From the Moabites 
the land passed to Arabs and Nabateans. 4 

It was the Hasmoneans who won back for Israel these 
ancient seats of Reuben. That curious personage, the 
Jewish priest Hyrcanus, who was driven by 

The Hasmo- * r _ , 

neans in his brothers across Jordan, had built the won- 

Moab. 

derful castle and caves of Tyrus, now 'Arak el 
Emir, and established a kind of kingdom. But he killed 
himself in 176 B.C. 5 John Hyrcanus took Medeba, 6 and 
Alexander Janneus made the Moabites tributary. 7 He 

1 Aroer, Daibon, Jahaz, Kiriathaim, Beth-Bamoth, Baal-Me'on, Mehedeba, 
Beth-Diblathen, and he destroyed 'Ataroth and Nebo. 

2 2 Kings iii. 

8 Amos (vi. 14) sets the boundary of the kingdom of Jeroboam II. at the brook 
of the 'Arabah. If this, as is generally supposed, means some water-course at 
the south end of the Dead Sea, Jeroboam II. had again reduced Moab, which 
is very probable. Isaiah xv. xvi. speaks of Hesbon, Elealeh, and Jazer as 
Moabite. In Jer. xlviii. 45 Hesbon seems to stand outside Moab. In 
Ezek. xxv. 9, Medeba is Moab's. 

4 I Mace. ix. 35 ff. : tous Navaralovs, the vtoi 'lafx^pl £k M-qSafid in this 
passage may be compared with the name Ia'meru "nftjT in the Nabatean 
inscription from Umm-er-Resas, C.I.S. ii. 195, and with the 'A/xapabi 
rrcuSej of Josephus xiii. Antt. i. 2 ; Clermont Ganneau, Journal Asiatique, 
1891, p. 542. 

5 Josephus xii. Antt. iv. II. The best accounts of 'Arak el Emir are 
Merrill's East of Jordan, 106 ff. ; Tristram, Land of Israel, 520 ; and Condei> 
Heth and Moab, 168 ff. 

8 xiii. Antt. ix. I. About 127 B.C. 
1 Ibid. xiii. 5. Before 90 B.C. 



Moab and the Coming of Israel 569 



built as the Jewish bulwark to the south the great 
fortress of Mekawar, 1 in Greek Machaerus, to-day 
Mkawr. It was given up to the Romans, , 

L Machaerus 

and destroyed by Gabinius, but Herod re- and the 

101 Herods. 

built it, making another Masada. 2 Pliny calls 
Machaerus the second citadel of Judaea. 3 It lay on the 
border of Persea, or the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas ; 
to the south of it were the domains of Aretas, Herod's 
father-in-law, king of the Nabateans. 4 When, for the 
sake of Herodias, Herod intrigued to divorce the daughter 
of Aretas, she begged to be sent to Machaerus, and 
Herod having let her go, she easily escaped from it to 
one of her father's camps on the Arnon. 5 It is interest- 
ing that we have two inscriptions from about this date 
of the strategi or commanders of these camps. 6 Aretas, 
like Herod, was a vassal of Rome, but instead of appeal- 
ing to his suzerain to right the wrong done to his 

1 "VDD or 11130. Some readings in the Talmud and Targums insert a 
v or b (Lightfoot, Opera, Ed. Leusden ii. 582 ; Levy, Neuhebraisch.es 
Wbrterbuch, sub voce 1113D). Josephus gives Ma%ai/3oCs ; Pliny, Machaerus. 
For its building by Alexander Janneus see Josephus, vii. Wars, vi. 2. 

2 Josephus, xiv. Antt. v. 2 ; vi. I ; vii. Wars, vi. 2 ; i. Wars, vii. 2. 

3 H.N. v. 1 6. 4 Josephus, xviii. Antt. v. 1. 

6 Ibid. Josephus cannot possibly have meant to say what some words oi 
this passage, as they now stand, imply, viz., that Machaerus belonged at this 
time to Aretas. Hitherto there had been no reason either of peace or war 
for Herod's surrender of this fortress ; the rest of this passage implies that 
Herod let his wife go to a fortress still his own, and it is only after she 
reaches Machaerus that Josephus talks of her coming 'into Arabia,' and 
under the charge of her father's generals. The clause, therefore, assigning 
Machaerus to Aretas must be corrupt. See next note as to the frontier. 

6 One inscription at Umm-er-Resas, the other at Medeba. Corpus Inscrip. 
Semit., Pars ii. torn. ii. Nos. 195, 196. The former is 39 A.D., the latter 
37. The latter does not prove the possession of Medeba in that year by the 
Nabateans, for it is not in situ, and it may have been brought from a dis- 
tance. In any case, the position of the Jews and Nabateans in Moab in 37, 
tells us nothing upon the question of the previous note, as to their frontiei 
a few years before, when Aretas' daughter fled from Herod. 



570 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



daughter, he prepared himself to go to war against Herod. 
Herod moved south to Machaerus to meet him, bringing 
his new wife, Herodias, and her daughter Salome. Aretas 
lingered, and in the respite Herod turned to deal with 
another foe, whom his scandalous conduct had aroused 
within his own domains. 1 John the Baptist, preaching in 
Peraea, had denounced the marriage of Herodias, and 
Herod arrested him, and cast him into the 

The murder < 1111 1 . 

of John the dungeons, which Machaerus held beneath its 
royal palace. Here the revelry of the king's 
birthday took place, and in the same moments, within 
the same walls, the murder of the prophet. 2 Machaerus 
overlooks the Dead Sea — it was another of those awful 
tragedies, for which nature has furnished here so sym- 
pathetic a theatre. 8 But it was not the last of them. 
Like Masada Machaerus formed one of the refuges of 
the Jewish zealots, who escaped from the overthrow of 
Jerusalem. Though unable to take it by storm, the 
Romans compelled its surrender through sheer menace, 
slaughtered a large part of the garrison and razed the 
walls. 4 

We cannot pass on without noticing that Moses and 
John, the first and the last of the prophets, thirteen 

1 Matt. xiv. 3 ff. 

2 Josephus (xviii. Antt. v. 2) is our only authority for the imprisonment and 
murder of the Baptist in Machaerus. Matthew (xiv. 3 ff.) and Mark (vi. 17 ff.) 
mention no place. Keim's observation {Jesus of Nazara, iv. 217) that 
Mark vi. 21 implies Tiberias is utterly gratuitous, and an answer, if needed, is 
supplied by himself {lb. 218, note 1), when he points out that Galilee, as in 
Mark's account, is often used by Josephus of the whole tetrarchy of Antipas. 
Wieseler's theory, that the banquet took place in Livias, the execution in 
Machaerus, is impossible. 

3 See p. 499- 

4 Josephus, vii. Wars t vi. 2 f. On the present condition of the site sec 
Burckhardt, Tristram. Conder, and other travellers. 



Moab and the Coming of Israel 571 



centuries between them, closed their lives almost on the 
same spot. Within sight also is the scene of the trans- 
lation of Elijah. 

The only other sites in this neighbourhood famed in 
those times were Heshbon, then Essebon, which gave its 
name to the district of Sebonitis, 1 and Callirrhoe, probably 
the hot springs of the Wady Zerka Ma'in. 2 

1 Josephus, ii. Wars, xviii. I, 2e/3u>m-(.s ; xii. Antt. iv. II, 'Eo-£re/3wi/?rts ; 
xv. Antt. viii. 5, 'BcrejSwfms. The LXX. spell the name of the town 
'Eaepibu, 'E(T/3ous, which latter is also given by Eusehius and Jerome in the 
Onomasticon. In the Christian era it was the seat of a Bishop. The ruins 
in Wady Hesban bear the marks of Crusaders. 

3 We have seen (560-561) that the Nahali-el of Num. xxi. is probably the 
W. Zerka Ma'in. Jos. xvii. Ant. vi. 5, i. Wars xxxiii. 5, Plin. N.H. v. 
16, 72, describe the wells of Kallirhoe as flowing into the Dead Sea, though 
they actually flow into the W. Zerka Ma'in ; but the statement bears out the 
idea that the whole valley was anciently identified with the wells, and supports 
Conder's identification of it with Nahali-el. In vii. Wars vi. 3, Josephus 
describes the valley as that to the north of Machaerus, and says that in part of 
it called Baaras there are wells hot and cold, fresh, salt, and sulphur. Jerome 
gives the name as Baaru {Onom.) and, under Kiriathaim, which is said to be 
near, as 6 fiapri ; while both Eusebius and Jerome speak of the mount of the 
hot wells. According to Jerome {Quatst. in lib. Genes eos, ed. Lag. 17 f.) 
Kallirhoe was the Lesha' of Gen. x. 19 (cf. Buhl, p. 123). Dechent suggests, 
Z.D.P.V. vii. 196 ff., that Kallirhoe was the group of hot and cold wells 
known as Es-Sara, to the south of the W. Zerka Ma'in. 



CHAPTER XXVII 
ISRAEL IN GILEAD AND BASHAN 



For this Chapter consult Maps 111. and V. 



ISRAEL IN GILEAD AND BASHAN 



WE now proceed to what, through so many centuries, 
was Israel's only proper territory east of Jordan 
— the Land of Gilead. Gilead, let us remember, extends 
from the edge of the plateau of Moab to the Yarmuk, 
and is cut into halves by the Jabbok. Israel's defeat of 
Sihon had given them the southern half, and brought 
them to this river. But the Sacred Narrative carries Israel 
in the days of Moses across the northern half of Gilead 
and up to Bashan. To the story of Sihon it adds the 
story of Og. 

We are not offered the same evidence in this case as 
in the previous. No song has been preserved that illus- 
trates the war against Og, and the story is g, king of 
confined to the Deuteronomic documents. Bashan - 
Accordingly, even critics, who believe in the reality of 
Sihon and of his overthrow by Israel, have doubted 
whether Og ever existed or Israel made so early an 
advance so far north as Bashan. 

I have given elsewhere 1 detailed answers to these doubts, 
and here need only emphasise the geographical probability 
of Israel's advance towards Bashan before they crossed 
the Jordan. Israel, it seems certain, were settled for some 
time in Moab, the country to the north was attractive, no 

1 Appendix, on thr. Wars against Sihon and Og. 

676 



576 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



obstacle like Jordan shut it off, and, besides, a chief, such 
as Og is represented to be, was not likely to be quiescent 
before so strong an invader on his own side of the river 
No other invader of Syria from the south-east has crossed 
Jordan without conquering Eastern Palestine, sometimes 
even as far as Damascus. 1 Og is represented as govern- 
ing the country to the Jabbok. But there is no record 
of Israel's advance from the Jabbok to the Yarmuk. 
Og met them at Edrei, east of the source of the latter 
river. Edrei, the present 'Adhra'a, 2 is a very strong 
position, on the south of the gorge that forms the southern 
boundary of the plain of Hauran. The gorge winds, and 
Undergronnd with a tributary ravine isolates the present 
Edrei. city on all but the southern side, by which it 

can be approached on the level. But the citadel is com- 
pletely cut off, upon a hill which stands forward on the 
gorge, and probably with the caves below it held the 
whole ancient town. These caves are one of the wonders 
of Eastern Palestine. They form a great subterranean 
city, a labyrinth of streets with shops and houses on either 
side, and a market-place. 3 How old the whole is we 
cannot say. The Bible makes no mention of so great a 
marvel, which is, therefore, probably to be dated from 
later times. Bashan was full of cities 4 besides Edrei, as 

1 One thinks especially of how the Nabateans pushed their conquest up to 
Damascus, even in face of Greek powers, and how the Mohammedans took 
Damascus before they took Jerusalem. 

2 ^TIK, Modern Arabic orthography is Daia'at, but the Bedouin preserve 
the most ancient pronounciation 'Azra'at. The Greeks spelt it 'ASpaa. 

3 Wetzstein, Reisebericht, 47 f. Porter, Five Years in Damascus. From 
the entrance in the gorge, we penetrated for fifty yards, and were stopped by 
a great and recent fall of the rock. Our guides told us the passage had been 
blown up by the Kaimakam to prevent the labyrinth being used by fugitives 
from military service and justice. 

4 Deut. iii- 



Israel in Gilead and B as han 577 



it is to-day, but almost none of the present ruins go back 
beyond the Christian era. 

Less clear than Israel's conquest of Og is their occupa- 
tion of his land, for the accounts of it differ, and many hold 
that the interpretation of them is, that Manas- Half-tribe of 
sen's settlement in Half Gilead (north of the Manasseh - 
Jabbok) and in Bashan took place not before Israel's pas- 
sage of the Jordan, but from Western Palestine, and after 
the settlement of the tribe to the north of Ephraim. There 
are, however, reasons against this, and in favour of the earlier 
settlement : so that, on our present evidence, the matter 
must remain uncertain. 1 But at whatever period Hebrew 
tribes first settled in Gilead, Gilead thereafter 

Gilead, 

continued to be the peculiar domain of Israel Israel's pro- 

T-t r 1 • P er territory. 

on the east of Jordan. The reasons for this, 
with all the consequent movements of history in Gilead, are 
as clear as the questions of her various localities and sites 
are obscure. Gilead is still only a half-explored country. 

1 Num. xxxii. I, JE states that only Reuben and Gad asked Moses for 
land east of Jordan. It is other sources which add to their settlement there 
the settlement of the half-tribe of Manasseh (Deut. and Num. xxxii. 33, 
assigned by most to the redactor). Deborah's song seems to speak of Machir as 
a western clan (Judges v. 14). The story of how Machir, son of Manasseh, took 
Gilead, and Jair, the son of Manasseh, took its camp-villages and called them 
Havoth-Jair, is attached by an earlier document (J) to the story of the settlement 
of Eastern Palestine under Moses (Num. xxxii. 39 ff.). But Judges x. assigns 
Havoth-Jair to Jair a Gileadite in the days of the Judges {see p. 551). Well- 
hausen says {Hist. 2nd ed. p. 33) that this makes 'probable' the invasion of 
Gilead by Manasseh after the conquest of Western Palestine. Stade {Gesch. 
163) thinks it happened when Reuben and Gad, whom he supposes to have 
first settled in Gilead, pushed south to Moab. But, as we have seen, p. 275, 
Reuben and Gad were in Moab from the first, and Stade gives no date, proof, 
or trace of proof, for the movement he imputes to them. Budde {Richt u. Sam, 
pp. 32 ff. ), by an able and ingenious argument, points out that the children of 
Joseph could not (Josh. xvii. 14-18) have complained to Joshua that they had 
only one lot, if besides their western territory they had already from Moses a 
territory east of Jordan, and he proposes by inserting 'Gilead' in ver. 18, to 

2 O 



578 The Historical Geography of 'the Holy Land 



Why Gilead constituted the eastern domain of Israel 
may be understood from her formation. Gilead is the only 

Reasons P art °f Eastern Palestine which corresponds to 

for this. the territories of Israel in the West. Gilead 
is mountain or hill-country between the two great 
plateaus of Moab and Hauran. Hauran was swept by 
the Arameans or Syrians, a people with chariots ; north 
of the Yarmuk Israel seldom got footing. Moab south, 
and the level country east of Gilead, were swept by the 
Arabs and Ammonites. But neither Aram from the 
north, nor Ammon from the south, though they sometimes 
carried fire and sword across Gilead, was able to drive the 
Hebrews from those high-wooded ridges between Moab 
and the Yarmuk, which formed almost as integral a 
portion of Israel as the hill-country of Judah, or the hill- 
country of Ephraim. Gilead was also, we must remember, 
in close communication with Western Palestine, as neither 
Bashan nor Moab could ever be. 

Accordingly, we find in Gilead, from the earliest times to 
the Assyrian captivity, Hebrew communities, centres and 
rallying-places for Hebrew dynasties, Hebrew character and 
heroism, with prophecy, the distinctive glory of Hebrew 

make this the new lot which Joshua granted them. But there is no evidence 
in the passage of ' Gilead ' having fallen out of the text, or of its being meant 
by Joshua. Nor could it have helped the House of Joseph against the 
Canaanites of Western Palestine (ver. 18) to have occupied Gilead. And, as 
Stade observes {Gesch. 163), it is not clear that Joshua did grant them a 
second lot. The arguments to prove the invasion of Northern Gilead from 
Western Palestine, are, therefore, inconclusive. Note, on the other side, 
that Gilead is said to be father of Abiezer and Shechem (Num. xxvi. 29 f. P ; 
Josh. xvii. 2, JE), and therefore older in Manasseh's history than these 
western towns of the tribe, and that while Judges xii. 4 (a narrative probably 
from the period of the early Kings) speaks of some Gileadites as late immi- 
grants into their territory, it assumes that Manasseh had previously occupied 
th'«. 



Israel in Giiea * and Bashan 579 



life. Deborah's song actually substitutes Gilead for Gad 
as the name of a tribe in Israel. 1 In his pursuit of the 
Midianites Gideon finds in Gilead two com- Gilead and 
munities, Succoth and Penuel, from which he h^tor^of 
expects the same devotion to Israel as he Tsrae1, 
would from any towns in Ephraim. 2 Two of the judges 
are Gileadite. One of them, J air, lives on the very east 
of the province, on the border of the desert, where men 
inhabit not cities but camps. 3 The other is the imposing 
figure of Jephthah, Israel's champion against the Ammon- 
ites, who occupied the fertile land on the waters of the 
Upper Jabbok. The story of Jephthah throbs with the 
sense of common interest between Gilead and Ephraim/ 1 
Mizpeh in Gilead was the gathering-place of all Israel 
against Benjamin. 5 Again, when the Ammonites threat- 
ened the helpless Jabesh-Gilead, Saul proved his title as 
king of All-Israel by succouring this Eastern city, 6 a 
service which its citizens remembered when they rescued 
his body from insult at Bethshan, and gave it burial with 
themselves. 7 It was certainly with some thought of all this 
that Abner vainly tried, in Gilead, to restore Saul's dynasty. 8 
By his conquests over Ammon and Aram of Damascus 
and Sobah, David was the first to bring all Eastern 
Palestine under Israel's suzerainty. 9 So com- Eastern 
pletely had David won the hearts of Eastern ^^David 
Israel that when Absalom's rebellion broke and Solomon, 
out he sought a refuge in Gilead, and made his head- 

1 Judges v. 17. a Judges viii. 

8 Judges x. 3-5. See p. 575. Nobah went still farther east to Kanatha 
in the Jebel Hauran, Num. xxxii. 42. 

4 Judges x. ff. 6 Id. xx. I. • 1 Sam. xL 

7 1 Sam. xxxi. 11-13. 8 2 Sam. ii. 

8 2 Sam. viii. and x. The exact degree of the subjection of Aram to David 
is left in doubt. Sobah lay to the north of Damascus. 



580 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



quarters Mahanaim, where Abner had crowned Ish- 
bosheth. The great woods of Gilead live before us in 
the story of the subsequent battle, when the rough wood- 
land multiplied to devour more people than the sword, and 
Absalom was hanged by his long hair in the oak. 1 
Solomon did not retain all the Eastern conquests of his 
father, and in his day Damascus grew to that power 
which made her, for the next three centuries, so formid- 
able a foe to Israel. 2 After the disruption Gilead remained 
with the northern kingdom, opposite which it lay, and 
with- which it had easy communication by the fords of 
Jordan. 3 Jeroboam fortified Penuel, and, for a time, may 
have made it his capital. 4 Soon afterwards Gilead gave 
Elijah the to ^ srae ^ a great personality. Elijah the Tish- 
Tishbite. fo ig breads across Jordan from Tishbeh in 
Gilead ' 6 with the same suddenness as in the end he 
disappears across the same river. In Gilead we must 
also seek for the Brook Cherith, the scene of his retreat. 6 
During the reign of Ahab, Damascus and Israel fought 
Aram and as a ^ les a g a inst Assyria, 7 but from this event 
Samana. on ward they were foes. They met on Israelite 
territory and Aram was beaten, met again at Aphek, on 
Aramean territory above the Lake of Galilee, where the 
great road still comes along from Damascus to the 



1 2 Sam. xviii. 8, 10. On the name Ephraim (ver. 6) on that side Jordan 
see p. 335. 

2 The idea that Solomon built Tadmor or Palmyra must be abandoned. 
For Tadmor in I Kings ix. 18 read Tamar, a town in Judah. See p. 270. 

3 On the connection of Ephraim with Eastern Palestine see p. 335. 

4 So it seems from the close connection between his abandonment of 
Shechem and building of Penuel, 1 Kings xii. 25. 

6 1 Kings xvii. 1 ; LXX. 

6 It is described as before, i.e. to the east of, Jordan, 1 Kings xvii. 3, 5. 

7 At Karkar in 85*1 H.c. 



Israel in Gilead and Bashan 581 

Jordan, 1 and Aram was beaten once more. Later, the 
Arameans took Ramoth in Gilead, and Ahab fell in the 
effort to regain it. 2 After some years, in which the 
Arameans kept up war against Western Palestine, 3 and 
besieged Samaria, 4 Joram, grandson of Ahab, won back 
Ramoth-Gilead, but it was still contested by Aram, 5 and 
Jehu was serving in the garrison when he was anointed 
to destroy the House of Omri. In Jehu's reign, and 
perhaps because of the internal troubles consequent on 
his usurpation of the throne, Hazael of Damascus, sweep- 
ing to the Arnon, was able to conquer all Israel's posses- 
sions east of Jordan. 6 It is probably to the barbarities of 
this campaign, in which Aram was joined by Ammon and 
Moab, that Amos refers : For three transgressions of 
Damascus, and for four, I will not turn it away ; for they 
have threshed Gilead with threshing-sledges of iron. For 
three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for 
four, I ivill not turn it away ; for they have ripped up the 
mothers of Gilead— to enlarge their border / 7 Bands of 
Moabites used to invade Western Palestine at the coming 
in of the year, and Hazael and Ben-Hadad, kings of Syria, 
oppressed Israel all their days? 

During these evil times the prophet Elisha, genuine 
borderman as he was (from Abel-meholah on Jordan), 9 

1 The present File. Wellhausen and Robertson Smith are surely wrong in 
identifying this Aphek with that where the Philistines mustered. See pp. 
204, 401. The narrative of the war between Israel and Aram, I Kings xx. 

2 1 Kings xxii. » 2 Kings v. 2 ; vi. 8. 
4 Id. vi. 24 ff. ; vii. b y# j x> tj 4> I4 

8 Id. x. 32. 7 Amos i. 3, 13. 8 2 Kings xiii. 2. 

9 I Kings xix. 16, somewhere in Jordan, probably south of the great plain 
of Bethshan, Judges vii. 22 ; 1 Kings iv. 12. Eusebius and Jerome, in the 
Onomasticon, 'A/SeX/meXaJ, place it in the Ghor, ten miles south of Bethshan, 
at a spot called, in their day, B??0/ueueXd. Conder suggests 'Ain Helweh, 
nine and a half miles south of Beth-shan. 



582 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



expert in camp-life, ambush and scouting, 1 inspired with 
political foresight, 2 had also been the moral stay and inspira- 
tion of his broken people — altogether, 3 through 

Elisha. 

those three long distracting reigns, the very 
chariot of Israel and the Iwrsemen thereof.* His bequest to 
Israel was hope : dying, he prophesied that the young 
Joash should thrice smite the Syrians at Aphek. 5 And so it 
came to pass. Joash recovered from Aram what Jehoahaz 
had lost, 6 and under the next, the long glorious reign of 
Jeroboam II., Israel enjoyed supremacy up to her ideal 
borders, Hamath and the Dead Sea, and probably occu- 
pied part of the very territory of Damascus. 7 This lasted 
for fifty years. The prophet Hosea treats Gilead as if 
it were as integral a part of the kingdom as Ephraim. 8 
The captivity But then came the flood which was to devas- 
ofGUead. tate with e q Ua i thoroughness both Western 
and Eastern Palestine. In 734 Tiglath-pileser, king of 
Assyria, came and took Ijon and Abel-beth-maacah, and 
fanoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, aiid Galilee, all 
Gilead in the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive 
the Prophets. fo Assyria? The eastern territories of Israel 
were left to the Ishmaelites. Isaiah does not once men- 
tion Gilead. Micah has only a prayer that God's flock may 
pasture again in Bashan and Gilead, as in days of old. 10 

1 These practical qualities of Elisha, so different from those of Elijah, are 
obvious, from all the marvellous narratives of 2 Kings iv. 38 ff. ; vi. 1-23 ; 
especially 12 ; Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel 
the words thou speakest in thy bedchamber. 

2 2 Kings viii. 7 ff. ; ix. 3. s Id. vi. 13-17. 
4 Id. xiii. 14. 1 Id. xiii. 17. 

6 Id. xiii. 25. 

; Id. xiv. 2S, not necessarily Damascus itself. 
8 Hosea vi. 8 ; xii. if. C£. Obad. 19. 

• 2 Kings xv. 29. lu Micah vii. 14. 



Israel in Gilead and Bashan 583 



To Jeremiah, Gilead is only a figure and a proverb, whose 
pathos is deepened by her abandonment by Israel; Is there 
no balm in Gilead, no physician there ? 1 But, in the days 
of the great captivity, Zechariah names Gilead as a pro- 
mise : I will bring them again out of the land of Egypt, 
and gather them out of Assyria ; and I will bring them down 
into the land of Gilead and Lebanon} The returned people 
shall be so many that Gilead shall be needed, and even 
Lebanon, for the overflow of them. 



Such, then, is the history ef Gilead, a history of con- 
stant war, all the tangled lines of which become intelligible 
when you recognise the position of this terri- 

, . 1 r • t 1 i • Uncertainty 

tory— high forest ridges between the river of sites 
Jordan and the desert, between the two great 
plateaus of Moab and Hauran. But when you come to 
details, and seek to fasten names, and trace the scenery of 
separate events, you are baffled. In all Syria sites are 
nowhere less fixed than in Gilead. There is only one 
identification which is certain ; there are, perhaps, two 
more which are probable. 

The certainty is the Jabbok or Yabbok. One has seen 
this Jabbok from one's childhood, — the midnight passage 
of a ford, the brief section of a river gleam- 
ing under torches, splashed and ploughed by * 6 * abbok ' 
struggling animals, cries of women and children above the 
noise ; and then, left alone, with the night, the man and 
the river, — for the narrative betokens some sympathy 
1 Jer. viii. 22. 2 Zech. x. 10. 



584 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



between the two tortuous courses : 1 the wrestle with God 
beside the struggling stream, and the dawn breaking 
down the valley on a changed life. Now, to-day there is 
no river in Syria which you associate more with the height 
of noon : groups of cattle standing to the knee in 
water, brakes of oleanders soaked in sunshine, and a fair 
array of fields on either side, scattered over with reapers 
and men guiding water by ancient channels to orchards 
and gardens. From first to last, the valley of the Jabbok 
is of great fertility. The head-waters of the river rise 
on the edge of Moab, only some eighteen miles from the 
Jordan, yet to the east of the water-parting. So the river 
flows at first desertwards, under the name of Amman, 
past Rabbath-Ammon 2 to the great Hajj road. There it 
turns north, fetches a wide compass north-west, cuts in 
two the range of Gilead, and by a very winding bed -flows 
west-south-west to the Jordan. The whole course, not 
counting the windings, is over sixty miles. The water is 
shallow, always fordable, except where it breaks between 
steep rocks, mostly brawling over a stony bed, muddy, 
and, at a distance, of a grey-blue colour, which brings it 
its present name of the Zerka. The best fields are upon 
the upper reaches, where much wheat is grown, but almost 
nowhere on the banks are you out of sight of sheep, or 
cattle, or tillage. A great road from Jordan follows the 
valley all the way to the desert, another runs from the 
desert by Amman to the west. 3 The river has always been 
a frontier and a line of traffic. Some day the valley will 

1 p3* Yabbok, and P?N\ Ye'abhek = wrestles. The narrative con 
nects the wrestling both with the river and with the place called Penuel. 
1 See the next chapter, on the Decapolis. 

8 Merrill, East of the Joidan, ch. xxx.: ' Exploration of the Jabbok.' 



Israel in Gilead and Bashari 585 



be very populous and busy. Yet the highest fame of 
Jabbok will ever be its first fame, and not all the sun- 
shine, ripening harvests along its live length, can be so 
bright as that first gleaming and splashing of its waters 
at midnight, or the grey dawn breaking on Israel next 
morning. The history of Gilead is a history of material 
war and struggle, civilisation enduring only by perpetual 
strife. But upon the Jabbok its first hero was taught 
how man has to reckon in life with God also, and that 
his noblest struggles are in the darkness, with the 
Unseen. 

The two sites in Gilead, whose identification is probable, 
are both named in Gideon's pursuit of the Midianites. 
Succoth may be the present Tell Deir 'Alia, a. Succoth and 
high mound in the Jordan Valley, about one J°g behah - 
mile north of the Jabbok. 1 Jogbehah is surely echoed in 
the present Jubeihah, Gubeihah, or 'Ajbehat, on the road 
from Salt to Amman. 2 Gideon went up by the way of 
them that dwell in tents on the east of Nobah, unknown, and 
fogbehah. This may mean the road up the Jabbok itself. 
In . any case, Gideon, going east, came from 

Penuel. 

Succoth to Penuel, as Jacob, going west, came 
from Penuel to Succoth. Penuel was probably a promi- 
nent ridge near the Jabbok, not necessarily to the south of 

1 The identification is due to Merrill {East of the Jordan, pp. 385-388, 
concurred in by Conder, Hetk and Moab, p. 183), and has been won through 
the statement of the Talmud (Shebiith ix. 2, Gemara) that the later name of 
Succoth was Dar'ala. Of course this leaves the matter only probable. 
Psalm Ix. 6 mentions the Vale of Succoth, between Shechem and Gilead. 

2 Judges viii. cf. Num. xxxii. 35, 42. This seems to have been 
Van de Velde's suggestion. We visited the numerous ruins in 189 1 ; our 
search revealed nothing but some Greek carvings. The name 'Ajbehat, or 
'Agbehat, is in my diary as given me by some Arabs we met there. Jubeihal 
is on the P.E.F. Map. 



586 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



this, and above Succoth. 1 We are equally ignorant of 
Mahanaim. It lay presumably to the north of Jabbok, 
and of the great gorge of Jordan, on the 

Mahanaim. & 

border of Gad, and not far from Jordan ; and it 
was an important city, fit for a capital. 2 The other famous 
names cannot be accurately fixed — Mizpeh, Ramath* 
Ramath- Mizpeh. Ramoth-Gilead, and the Land of Tob. 
Ramotn^ nd Mizpeh, tne scene of Laban's covenant with 
Giiead. Jacob, has been placed by Conder at Suf, a 
place of dolmens and stone-circles between 'Ajlun and 
Jerash. 8 This may be, but in the diversity of other 
accounts of a Mizpeh in Giiead, one of which, Jephthah's 
story, places it on the border of Ammon, 4 another implies 
that it lay more to the west, 5 another puts Ramath- 

1 That Penuel was prominent is likely, from the analogy of the Phoenician 
headland known as deov irpbaonrov (Strabo xvi. 2, 15 f. ). Gen. xxxii. 25-33, 
implies that it was near Jabbok; Judges viii. 8-11, that it was above 
Succoth. If Jacob came from the north, then Penuel was south of Jabbok ; 
if from the east, then Penuel may have been on either bank, for the eastern 
road down the Jabbok valley crosses the river more than once. Merrill 
suggests the Tulul edh-Dhahab, round and between which the Jabbok forces 
its way into the Jordan (pp. 390-392). Conder puts Penuel on the ridge of the 
Tebel 'Osha. 

2 Gen. xxxii. 1-10 (vv. 4-140! of this chapter belong to J, vv. 1-3, ff. to 
E) seems to put Mahanaim near Jordan, which would make Jacob's approach 
to Jabbok take place from the north (see previous note). Abner, after 
crossing Jordan, came through the Bithron or Gorge (2 Sam. ii. 29), a name 
which suits the narrow central portion of the Jordan Valley, to Mahanaim. 
The Kikkar, across which Ahimaaz ran to Mahanaim {id. xviii. 23) is pro- 
bably the Kikkar of Jordan (see pp. 335, 505). Conder {Heth and Moab> 
185 ff. ) places Mahanaim near the Bukei'a, to the east of Salt, a region not 
likely to contain so important a town, and hardly on the border of Gad, 
where Mahanaim is placed by Josh. xiii. 26. Merrill (p. 437) suggests Khurbet 
Suleikhat, 300 feet above the Ghor, in the Wady 'Ajlun ; cf. Kasteren 
{Z.D.P. V. xiii. 205), on Kh.-Mahne. Visited by Seetzen, Reise, i. 385. 

3 Gen. xxxi. 49. Conder, Heth and Moah, 181 f. ; Oliphant, Land of 
Giiead, 209-216. 

4 Judges x. 17 5 xi. 11, 29, 34. 

6 Or it could hardly have been the gathering-place of all Israel, against 
Benjamin, Judges xx. xxi. 



Israel in Gilead and Bashan 587 



Mizpeh on the northern border of Gad, 1 while another 
speaks of a Maspha or Mizpeh in the far north-east 2 — 
what certainty can we have that these are the same ? or, 
if they are the same, what one site will suit them all? 
Ramoth-Gilead, which has been assigned to at least five 
different places, probably lay north of them all, near the 
Yarmuk, for it was on debatable ground be- The Land 
tween Aram and Israel. 3 The name of Land of Tob - 
of Tob, 4 which was north of Mizpeh, may survive in that 
of the W ady and village of Taiyibeh, east of Pella. 5 

But while these ancient sites are uncertain, it ought to 
be remembered that no province has at the present day 
sites which, by nature and the part they have 
played in modern history, are more definitely historical 
stamped as likely to have been among the Sltes ' 
famous sites of old. It is impossible for us to believe that 
Es-Salt with its Jebel 'Osha, 'Ajlun with its equally 
famous view-point and fortress in the Kula'at-er-Rubaad, 
Pella, Gadara. Irbid, Remtheh, were not famous in the 
history of Israel in Gilead. Surely they were not unused. 
It may only be the meagreness of geographical details in the 
Old Testament which prevents us from identifying Mizpeh 
with- the far-seeing Kula'at-er-Rubaad, Mahanaim with so 
worthy a capital for Gilead as 'Ajlun, or with so historical a 
site as Pella ; or from placing Ramoth-Gilead at Reimun, 6 or 

1 Josh. xiii. 26. 5 Taken by Judas Maccabeus, I Mace. v. 35. 

3 1 Kings xxii., 2 Kings ix. 

* And not, as Conder says, the district in which Mizpeh lay, for Jephthah 
was summoned from it to come to Mizpeh, which the narrative places near 
the territory of Ammon. 

5 The n as given in the Syriac version of 1 Mace. v. 13, and in the 
Greek of 2 Mace. x. II, 17, is not a radical, but the Greek termination, 
Tw/Stof or Tovfiiou, Tov^irjvot. Hence the P.E.F. Red. Map, 1890, is wrong 
n suggesting Tibneh to the south of Taiyibeh. 

6 As Conder does. 



588 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



at Es-Salt, or at the Kula'at-er-Rubaad, though, as already 
said, it seems necessary, from what the Old Testament tells 
us of the frequency with which Ramoth-Gilead was con- 
tested by Aram and Israel, to put it farther north, near the 
Yarmuk. Irbid and Ramtheh, on the north-east, are both 
of them fairly strong sites ; the former is to-day the capital 
of the district of 'Ajlun, the latter a station on the Hajj 
road, that immemorial line of traffic. Both of them must 
have been prominent places in ancient times. 

But all that can be done to-day is to state the topo- 
graphical problems of Israel in Gilead, and leave their 
solution till the discovery of fresh evidence. 



After the return from exile the Jews spread themselves 
across Eastern Palestine, and came* into conflict, as we 
The Macca- h ave seen them do in the Shephelah, with the 
bees and new race f Q ree k settlers who flowed in in 

Eastern 

Palestine. fa e wake of Alexander the Great. Hellenism 
came to terms with the native paganism : the two were 
amalgamated. But the Jews kept to themselves, they 
were few and weak, and when the great religious war 
broke out in the second century they were sorely pressed 
in their various cities. 1 Judas Maccabeus, who had pre- 
viously conquered the Ammonites under a Greek leader, 2 
achieved a second victorious campaign, 3 the course of 
which is hard to trace, but it brought him as far east as 
Bosra. He took that town, and next a place, Dathema, 
or, according to another reading, Rametha, in which it is 

1 i Mace. v. 9. 3 1 Mace. v. 6-8. 

8 1 Mace. v. 24 ff. ; the wilderness into which he went three days' journej 
must be that to the east of Ammon and Gilead, whence he suddenly turned on 
Bosra. 



Israel in Gilead and Bashan 



5§9 



possible to trace an echo of Ramoth of Gilead, 1 and next, 
Maspha, 2 Casphon, 3 Maged, Bosor, 4 and other cities of the 
country of Galaad. The heathen gathered a force at 
Raphon, 5 probably Raphana of the Decapolis on the 
Yarmuk, but Judas defeated them and took Karnain, 6 
with its great temple to Atargatis. Then, gathering all 
the Jews who would come back with him, he returned by 
1 a great and well-fortified ' city called Ephron, 7 which he 
was forced to take before he could pass, and crossed the 
Jordan at Beth-shan. 

It was Alexander Janneus 8 who again brought Gilead 
within the territories of Israel. First he took Gadara, but 
seems to have been repulsed from Amathus, A i exander 
a very strong fortress just north of the {jj^^n m 
Jabbok, now Amatha. 9 On a second cam- Palestine - 
paign, after overcoming * the Moabites and Gileadites,' he 
destroyed Amathus and its Greek defenders, but was 
defeated on the Yarmuk by Obodas, the Arabian, ' He 
was thrown by means of a multitude of camels into a deep 
valley ' — a fate of singular likeness to that which the 
Arabs inflicted on the Byzantine army in 634 A.D., forcing 
them by sheer weight of numbers into a defile in the 

1 1 Mace, v. 9; Greek, Aade/xa; Syriac, Rametha. This would confirm 
the northern position of Ramoth. See above, p. 5 7. 

2 Not necessarily Mizpeh of Gilead. The Syriac reads Alim, Josephus 
Malle. 

3 Xa<T<p<Jbp (v. 26), or Xaocpwv, or Xaa<pdi6 (v. 36). 
* and BocrSp. 

6 V. 37, Pa0wf iiacipav rod Xeifxap'pov. See next chapter. 

8 V. 26, Kapvatv. 7 Vv. 46 ff. 'E$pu;i> ; Syriac, Ophrah. 

8 B.C. 104-78, 

9 Josephus (xiii. Antt. xiii. 3; i. Wars, iv. 2) says that Amathus was 
taken by Alexander, but mentions his repulse and departure to other fields 
immediately afterwards. The Onomasticon places Amathus twenty-one miles 
south of Pclla. 



590 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



same neighbourhood. 1 But Alexander, though a dissolute 
man, was a very determined captain. He returned to 
Eastern Palestine, and though it cost him a three years' 
campaign, 84-81, he thoroughly reduced the country. In 
Gilead he took Pella, Dion and Gerasa ; in Bashan, Golan, 
Seleucia and Gamala. 2 

Thus all Gilead and Bashan with Moab were again 
Israel's, and this terrible debauchee repeated the triumphs 
of a David and a Jeroboam II. Another Semitic power, 
the Nabatean, held all to the East, and Damascus. The 
Greek cities were Judaised. Hellenism lay prostrate. 

So matters continued till the arrival of Pompey and the 
Roman Legions in 64 B.C. These closed the dominion of 
Israel in Bashan and Gilead, and opened a new period in 
the history of Eastern Palestine, which we shall follow in 
the next two chapters. 

1 Josephus in xiii. Antt. xiii. 4 places the rout of Alexander's army near 
Gadara, but in i. Wars, iv. 4, near Gaulana, i.e. Golan. We must not sup- 
pose this means that the two were the same place—though Gadara, which is 
not mentioned in the Old Testament, nor identified with any Old Testament 
name, is not a wholly impossible site for Golan, standing as it does on the 
very border of Gaulanitis. More probably Golan lay north of the Yarmuk, 
and the above passages prove it must have lain near the latter and Gadara. 
Sahem ej Jaulan (see p. 536) is seventeen miles north-east of Gadara and 
three miles from the Yarmuk. 

3 Josephus, xiii. Antt. xv. 3, 4 ; i. Wars, iv. 8. For Pella, Dion, Gerasa 
see next chapter. Pella was destroyed for the inhabitants would not accept 
Judaism. On Golan see previous note and p. 550. Seleucia, ZeXewe/a (to 
be distinguished from the great Seleucia on the Tigris, Josephus xiii. Antt. 
vii. I ; xviii. Antt. ix. 8, and other cities of the same name founded by 
Seleneus Nicator), lay east of Lake Huleh (iv. Wars, i. 1) on an unknown 
site. Josephus fortified it (ii. Wars, xx. 6 ; Life, 37), and it was a centre of 
revolt against the Romans (iv. Wars % L 1). For Gamala, see p. 459. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 
GREECE OVER JORDAN : THE DECAPOLIS 



For this Chapter consult Maps /, ///, V. and FA 



GREECE OVER JORDAN : THE DECAPOLIS 



REEK immigration, as we have seen, flowed into 



Palestine in the wake of Alexander the Great 
Numbers of his veterans settled in Northern Alexander 
and Eastern Syria, while the dynasties, founded the Great * 
by his generals at Antioch and in Egypt welcomed the 
arrival of multitudes more of their countrymen. The 
settlements of these immigrants assumed the characteristic 
Greek form of civic communities, democratic in constitu- 
tion, and always aiming at independence, but often sub- 
ject to the great powers of the East, or to local tyrants. 1 
On the coast the Greeks absorbed the ancient Philistine 
and Phoenician cities ; east of the Jordan they more 
frequently occupied positions which had not formerly 
been historical. 

The oldest Greek settlements in Eastern Palestine were 
Pella and Dion, which, as their Macedonian 

r Earliest 

names suggest, were probably founded by Greek cities 
Alexander's own soldiers. 2 Nearly as old were ° ver J ordan ' 
Philadelphia, on the site of Rabbath-Ammon, Gadara, and 
1 See pp. 588-590. 

a The Macedonian Pella was the birthplace of Alexander, and there was a 
second Asiatic Pella in Northern Syria. The suggestion of Tuch {Quastiones 

de Fl. Josephi libris historicis, p. 18) that Pella is Greek for equivalent 
to the modern name P'ahil, is not so improbable as Schiirer supposes {Hist. 
ii. 1, 114), for it is impossible to understand how Fahil . could have risen 
from Pella. Dion was a town of Macedonia, and Stephanus Byzantinus 
attributes the Syrian Dion to Alexander himself. 




2 P 



594 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Abila, all of them grown to be important fortresses by 
218 B.C. 1 Bosra was a strong Greek centre in the time 
of the Maccabees. 2 Gerasa and Hippos are not mentioned 
till later. 3 Of none of these cities have inscriptions or 
coins been found of a date earlier than the arrival of the 
Romans.* 

The freedom of the Greek cities of Palestine was taken 
from them by the Jewish princes ; it was Pompey who 
'restored them to their citizens,' 5 and they 

Greek cities m . 

enfranchised date their civic eras from the year of his 

by Pompey. _ . 

Syrian campaign, 04-03 B.C. The exact 
measure of independence which they enjoyed is uncertain, 
and must have varied much between the time of Pompey 

and that of Trajan. They had communal 

Greek cities freedom, their own councils, 8 the right of coin* 
under Rome. , . . _ , , . . r 

age, the right of asylum, the ng-ht 01 property 
and administration in the surrounding districts, the right of 
association with each other for defensive and commercial 
purposes. But from the first they were ' put under the 
Province of Syria.' 7 That is to say, their administration 

1 Polybius v. 71; xvi. 39; Josephus, xii. Antt. iii. 3; Stark, Gaza, p. 
381. 

2 See p. 588. 

8 Gerasa, when taken by Alexander Janneus. See p. 589. Hippos, when 
freed by Pompey. 

4 With the doubtful exception of a coin of Dion of 89-88 B.C., De Saulcy, 
Ntimis. de la T. S. pp. 378 ff. The next earliest seems to be one of Gadara 
of 56 B.C. Ibid. p. 294. 

6 Josephus (xiv. Antl. iv. 4 ; i. Wars, vii. 7) mentions Gadara, Hippos, 
Pella, and Dion, as freed by Pompey, but. Abila, Kanata, Kanatha, and 
Philadelphia also dated their coins from 64-63 B.C., the so-called Pompeian 
era. The era of Gerasa is uncertain. Only some of the coins of Scythopolis 
are dated from Pompey. The coins of Gadara and Pella show that these 
towns assumed the name 1 Pompeian' (De Saulcy, Numis. de la T. S. t 293, 
298, 299). 

8 See p. 606. 7 Josephus as in note 5. 



Greece over Jordan : The De capo lis 595 



of politics and law was subject to revision by the Governor, 
they were taxed for imperial purposes, their coins bore 
the image of Ccesar, they were liable to military service, 1 
and while they appear to have had no Roman garrison, 2 
Roman generals used them for the quartering of the 
legions. 3 The position at this time of the Greek cities in 
Syria must not be compared to that of the Greek cities of 
Europe. In Europe and in Asia the relations of Greece 
and Rome were very different. In Europe Rome was the 
conqueror, and might be regarded as the oppressor, of 
Greece ; in Asia the Roman power was the indispensable 
ally and safeguard of the Greeks, and their interests could 
never be opposed. Therefore, even when the authority of 
the Empire over these cities was vindicated by instances 
so extreme as the gift by Augustus of some of them to 
Herod, 4 the inhabitants at first made no resistance, and, 
indeed, in Herod they found an overlord of great 
Hellenic sympathy. 6 

Confederacies of Greek cities were common under both 
the Republic and the Empire, 6 and were formed for 
commerce and the cultivation of the Hellenic 

... . _ The Deeapolis. 

spirit against alien races. Their most famous 

Oriental instance was the Deeapolis. The origin of this 

League is nowhere mentioned, but to those familiar with 

1 Josephus, ii. Wars, xviii. 19. 

2 Except at the request of the citizens themselves on such an occasion, as 
described by Josephus, iv. Wars, vii. 3, 4. 

3 As Vespasian wintered the Legions v. and x. in Scythopolis, iii. Wars, ix. 1. 

4 On the east of Jordan, Hippos, Gadara ; on the west, Gaza, Ashdod, 
Joppa, Straton's Tower, were given to Herod in 30 B,c. ; xv. Antt. vii. 3 ; 
i. Wars, xx. 3. 

6 Gadara alone appears to have had difficulties with Herod, xv. Antt. 
x. 2, 3. 

• For Greece, cf. Mommsen, Prov. 0/ the Roman Empire, Eng. Edition, L 
264, 265. 



596 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



the history of the period its reason will be obvious. 
Between 64 B.C., when Pompey constituted the Province 
of Syria, and 106 A.D., when at last Trajan succeeded in 
making the Roman government effective up to the desert, 
Eastern Palestine remained exposed and unsettled. The 
Romans left the government to their Semitic vassals, 
Zenodorus, Herod, and the Nabatean princes, 1 but these 
made little of the work. Bands of Arab robbers scoured 
Eastern Palestine, and even in 40 A.D. the settlers in 
Hauran were still driven underground. 2 Now, it is this 
period of unsettlement, in which the forces, both of order 
and disorder, were Semitic, which is covered by the history 
An Ami-Semi- °f tne Decapolis. We may therefore venture 
tic League. tQ reco g n j se j n the latter a League of Greek 
cities against the various Semitic influences east and west 
of Jordan, from which Rome had freed them, but could 
not yet undertake to give them full protection. 3 As at 
least two of the cities of the League, Hippos and Gadara, 
were given by Augustus to Herod, it is possible that 
the League did not arise till after Herod's death in 4 B.C., 
when these cities regained their independence ; but it is 
more probable that it had existed since the enfranchise- 
ment of so many of the towns by Pompey, and the 
necessity which existed even then for Greeks to support 
each other against the Semites. The religion of the 
Decapolis, as we shall see, was, in contrast to that of othei 
towns in Eastern Palestine, thoroughly Hellenic. 

The Decapolis, according to its name, consisted at first 

1 See especially Josephus, xv. Antt. x. i. 

1 An inscription of that year describes the population as living in caves and 
underground cities, Waddington, 2329. 

3 The name Decapolis does not occur before Pliny, Josephus, and the 
Gospels of Matthew ami Mark. 



Greece over Jordan : The Decapolis 597 



of ten cities. Look at the sites of these ten, trace the 
great roads which connect them, and you will recognise 
the military and commercial policy of their confedera- 
tion. 

The Plain of Esdraelon gives open passage from the 
coast to Jordan. At the inland end of this passage the 
Ten Cities begin, and are scattered fanwise 

r • The Geo- 

along the main routes of traffic across Jordan graphyofthe 
to the desert. Scythopolis is the only member Decapohs - 
of the League west of Jordan, but she was indispensable to 
her eastern fellows by her command of their communica- 
tions with the sea and with the Greek cities 

r 1 it- r» 1 i« 1 1 Scythopolis. 

of the coast. 1 from Scythopolis three roads 
cross Jordan and traverse Eastern Palestine. All the 
other original members of the Decapolis lay either on 
these roads, or on the road they run to join — the great 
line of commerce between Damascus and Arabia along the 
border of the desert. Immediately across Jordan and at 
the beginnings of the three roads lay Pella, 
Gadara, Hippos. The positions of these are Hippos', 
undisputed — Pella on the southern, Gadara on 
the central, Hippos on the northern or Damascus, road. 2 
They stood just above the Jordan Valley ; they were not 
twenty-five miles apart, their territories touched, and thus 
together they commanded the edge of the Eastern table- 
land. Across this we now follow the three roads, to 
which they held the entrance. The road from Pella 
struck south-east over the hills of Gilead, and may be 
traced both by the directions of Eusebius and by some 
monuments, to which we were able to add by the fortunate 

1 On Scythopolis (Bethshan), see pp. 357 ff. 

1 Hippos had coins with horse, Pegasus, woman holding him : De Saulcy. 



598 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



discovery of a milestone. 1 On this road lay three other 
Dion, Gerasa, mem bers of the Decapolis — Dion, on an un- 
Phiiadeiphia. discovered site 2 near Pella, and Gerasa and 

Philadelphia, the farthest south. The central road, which 

1 This road, of which Eusebius tells us in the Onomasticon, artt. " Apiaud 
and 'la/Set s Ta\da5, was traced by Mr. Merrill past Miryamin, Kefr Abil, 
Maklub, and Wady Mahneh to Ajlun [East of Jordan, p. 357 ; cf. Guy Le 
Strange, Across the Jordan, p. 277). In Kefr Abil we confirmed this line by 
the discovery of a Roman milestone, now used as a pillar in the mosque, the 
inscription on which stands as on the left hand of these two columns, and may 
be restored as on the right hand : — 



MP 


Imperator Caesar 


I..IVS 


M(arcus) Aurelius Ant 


VSAVG 


oninus Augustus 


I A 


[Parthicus Maximus ?] 


i n et 


Trib(unicia) Pot( estate) ? Co(n)s(ul) II. et 
Imperator Caesar 


1 VERVS 


L(ucius) Aurelius Verus 


no os ib 


Trib(unicia) Pot(estate) II. ? Co(n)s(ul) IL 


ifili 


Divi Antonini Fiiii 


POTES 


Divi Hadriani Nepotes 
Divi Trajani Parthici Pro- 


PARTHICI 


IVI 


-nepotes Divi Nervae Ab- 


EPOTES 


-nepotes 



2 Dion must, have lain a little south-east of Pella, according to Ptolemy, 
v. 15, who gives the following degrees of longitude and latitude : Scythopolis, 
67 20', 31 55'; Pella, 67 40', 31 40'; Dion, 67 30'. 31 45'; Gerasa, 
68° 15', 31 45'. The position marked in Mommsen's map is, therefore, 
wrong. It is mentioned by Josephus with Gerasa (xiii. Antt. xv. 3, for Essa 
read Gerasa) and with Pella (xiv. Antt. iv. 4). . It is not mentioned by 
Polybius in the campaign of Antiochus> 218 B.C. (Pol. v. 70). The words 
of Steph. Byzan. are ambiguous : blov . . . KTla/ma 'AXe^avSpov rj nal 
RtXXa 77s rb vdup voa-epbv. The reading, 17 nal lleXXa, is not certain, or it 
would prove the identity of Pella and Dion. It is singular that the Excerpta 
ex Grceca Notitia Patriarchatuum, quoted by Reland, p. 215, should give 5 
under Palestina Secunda, the name of Pella in the plural, IIAXai, and no 
Dion, but another list, p. 217, has no Pella, and reckons Dion with Gerasa 
in Arabia. Also, Eusebius talks of Pella in the plural, Onomasticon, art. 
Aip.a.0. Reland quotes an epigram on the bad water mentioned by Steph. 
Byzan. : 1 Sweet is the water of Dion to drink, but drink it and thou losest 
thy thirst, and straightway thy life.' De Saulcy says there is a well near 
Kefr Abil, called by the Arabs Ain el Jarim, or * The Fatal Well.' Merrill 
(East of Jordan, 298) suggests 'Eidun for Dion, but that is too much to the 
north east. Dion will probably be found about Ba'un or 'Ajlun. 



Greece over Jordan : The Decapolis 



599 



travelled past Gadara, led towards Raphana, an original 
partner of the League, whose site is unknown, 1 and, after 
passing some cities that joined the League Rapbanaand 
later, reached Kanatha, the most easterly of Kanatha - 
the Decapolis at the foot of the Jebel Hauran. 2 Some have 
hesitated to place one of the earliest Greek cities so far 
east, but there were many Greeks in the neighbouring 
Bosra even in the time of Judas Maccabeus; 3 Kanatha 
had always been a place of importance, and now, with 
Philadelphia and Gerasa, it represented the Decapolis 
on the margin of the desert, and on the great route from 
Damascus to Arabia which ran along the latter. 

. Damascus. 

Damascus itself appears to have been an hono- 
rary member of the league. These, then — Scythopolis ; 
Pella, Dion, Gerasa and Philadelphia ; Gadara, Raphana 
and Kanatha ; Hippos and Damascus— were the original 
ten, from which the Decapolis received its name. 4 

But to these ten, others were added. Ptolemy gives a 

1 Raphana was probably the RaphSn of I Mace, v, 37-43 (see p. 589) 
and of xii. Antt. viii. 4, near Astaroth-Karnaim, and on a wady — perhaps 
the present Nahr el A wared, a tributary of the Yarmuk. 

2 Kanatha is the Kenath of the Old Testament (Num. xxxii. 42 ; 1 Chron. 
ii. 23 ; see p. 579, n. 3), now called Kanawat, but according to Wetzstein 
{Reisebericht, p. 78) by the Bedouin always Kanawa. We were, unfor- 
tunately, turned back by the authorities on our visit to Kanawat and Bosra. 
Full accounts of the great ruins in Burckhardt, Syria, 83; Buckingham, 
Travels among Arab Tribes, 242 ff. ; Porter, Five Years in Damascus, ch. xi. ; 
Merrill, East of the Jordan, 36-42. Inscriptions in Wacld. 2329-2363 ; Wetz- 
stein, Ausg. Inschr. (see p. 15, n. 1), 188-193. For coins, De Saulcy (Numis. 
de la T. S., 400 f.). Porter gives a long and adequate argument for the 
identification of Kanatha with Kanawat. In the Peutinger Tables it is given 
as thirty-seven miles (Roman) from Aena (Phsena), which is tweii'ty-four from 
Damascus. Kavwda and K^uada were other forms of the name. 

8 See p. 588. 

4 They form the earliest list, given by Pliny, H.N. v. 16 (18). Damascus 
must have been unknown to Josephus as an ordinary member of the League, 
for he calls Scythopolis the greatest of the Decapolis. 



6oo The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



list with eighteen names, leaving out Raphana and 
adding nine others, which it is interesting to note lay 
mostly towards Damascus, and away from the 

Abila, 

Kanata, Decapolitan region proper in North Gilead. 1 

Kapitolias,. . _ , . . , 

1 he most important of the additions were three. 
Abila lay about twelve miles east of Gadara, on a branch 
of the Yarmuk. 2 Kanata is distinguished from Kanatha 
by the different spelling of its name on coins and inscrip- 
tions, as well as by the fact that an aqueduct which one 
inscription describes as running to Kanata started too low 
to have carried water to Kanatha. On the strength of 
another inscription, Wetzstein has placed Kanata at El- 
Kerak, in the Nukra, but the neighbouring El-Kuniyeh 
seems to have some echo of the name. 3 Kapitolias, which 
from its Latin name appears to have been added to the 
Decapolis only after Trajan had extended the Empire to 
the desert, 4 was either Beit-er-Ras, House of the Head- 
land, a few knolls covered by remains of Greek carving 
near Irbid, or some site farther north. 6 Other towns of 

1 See next page. 

2 On a Palrnyrene inscription (Reland, pp. 525 IT.), 'A/3/A77 7-775 Ae/caroXeoj 
(and to be distinguished from the Abila on the Abana, north-west of Damas- 
cus, after which Abilene of Luke iii. 1 was named). It was first discovered 
by Seetzen {Reisen., i. 371 f. ), 25th Feb. 1806, and the site and ruins are 
fully described by Schumacher, Abila of the Decapolis ; cf. Otiomasticon, art. 
A/3e\; De Saulcy, Numis. de la T. S., 308-312. 

3 See Wadd, 2296 (the inscription about the aqueduct), 2329, 241212-9. 
Wetzstein, Ausgewahlle Inschr., 183-186. De Saulcy, Numis. de la T. S., 
399 ff. , plate xxiii., where on 8 is EANATHNQN, a coin of Kanata, but on 
10 KANAG-NON, a coin of Kanatha. 

4 It dated its era from 97 or 98, the accession of Trajan, De Saulcy, p. 305. 

5 Beit Ras suits the position of Kapitolias in the Peutinger Tables ; but 
not, as Schlirer points out {Hist. II. i. p. 106, n. 205), the data of the 
Itinerarium Antonini, which requires a site farther north. We found nc 
inscriptions, but some beautiful Greek carving at Beit-Ras. Beit-Ras lies on 
the direct road from Edrei to Gadara. 



Greece over Jordan : The Decapolis 60 1 



this wider Decapolis were such as Edrei, Bosra, and some 
of their neighbours. 

Each of these cities of the Decapolis had not only its 
suburbs, but commanded besides a large territory, with 
villages, 1 Round Hippos there was a Hippene, 2 

The region 

round Gadara a country of the Gadarenes. oftheDeca- 
Gadara had a sea-board on the Lake of P ° lls ' 
Galilee. Some of her coins bear the image of a trireme. 
We did not, however, realise how far the property and 
influence of the Greek cities extended till we followed the 
great aqueduct which brought water to Gadara from as 
far east as Edrei. Such long works as this prove that 
the cities of the Decapolis possessed rights, and could 
exercise authority at distances even greater than those 
which separated them from each other. The Decapolitan 
region, as Pliny calls it, 4 the borders of the Decapolis, as it 
is styled in the Gospels, was, therefore, no mere name, but 
an actual sphere of property and effective influence. The 
territories of Pella, Scythopolis, Gadara and Hippos, 
which adjoined each other, alone represented a solid belt 
of country along the Jordan. 5 East and north-east from 
this ran the aqueduct of Gadara for more than thirty 
miles ; all Gilead itself was at one time called the region 
of Gerasa. 6 If, then, we omit Damascus, we may deter- 
mine the ' region of the Decapolis ' to have been most of 
the country south-east of the Lake of Galilee across 
Gilead to the desert, but Pliny's words about it, that it 

1 Josephus, Life^ 65. 

3 Id, iii. V/ars, iii. 1. 

9 Mark v. I, according to one reading. 

* V. 15, Decapoiita regio. 

6 Query : Did it completely cut off Pergea from Galilee ? 
6 So Jerome in the fourth century. 



6o2 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



was interpenetrated by the tetrarchies, forbid us to assume 
that it was absolutely solid. 1 

From this investigation we turn now to a description 
of these wonderful Greek cities, their sites, their buildings, 
and the life which thronged them. 

When the Greeks occupied new sites their choice was 
mainly determined, of course, by questions of commerce 
The sites of an< ^ defence. Thus Hippos has no water, but 
the ■ ten cities. jj es on a stron g eminence just above the Lake 

of Galilee, where the great road breaks north-east to 
Damascus. Thus Gadara stood on a headland above the 
Jordan Valley — a broad, fresh stage for city life, which 
steep, deep slopes on three sides constituted a formidable 
fortress. In spite of its feeble spring, this is so incomparable 
a site, that even if it was not historical before the Greeks, 
— which is so unlikely that one is inclined to fix here 
The favourite Ramoth-Gilead, — the Greeks could not pos- 
Greek site. s ibly have neglected it. But the favourite 
Greek site was different from these. It was a mound or 
ridge by a shallow stream — one of the characteristic 
Peraean brooks, ten to twelve feet wide, and a foot deep, 
with a smaller mound, perhaps, on the other side, and 
meadow and arable land in the neighbourhood. These 
are the natural features common to Scythopolis, Pella, 
Gerasa, Philadelphia, Abila and Kanatha — most of which 
have besides a far and splendid view. The architectural 
Thearchi- features were also similar. There were the 
tecture. usual buildings of a Greek city of the Roman 
period, the colonnaded street, the arch, the forum, the 
temple, the theatre, the bath, the mausoleum, in florid 



1 Pliny. H.N., v. 16. See above, p. 540. 



Greece over J or dan : The Decapolis 603 



Doric and Corinthian, with the later Christian basilica 
among them, and perhaps a martyrion, or martyrs' monu- 
ment Approach any of these sites of the Decapolis, and 
this is the order in which you are certain to meet with 
their remains. Almost at the moment at which your eye 
catches a cluster ©f columns, or the edge of an amphi- 
theatre against the sky, your horses' hoofs will clatter upon 
pavement. You cannot ride any more. You must walk 
up this causeway, which the city laid far out from its 
gates. You must feel the clean tight slabs of basalt, so 
well laid at first that most of them lie square still. You 
must draw your hand along the ruts worn deep by the 
chariot wheels of fifteen, eighteen centuries ago. If the 
road runs between banks there will be tombs 
in the limestone, with basalt lintels, and a bridges, 
Roman name on them in Greek letters, per- streets - 
haps a basalt or a limestone sarcophagus flung out on the 
road by some Arab hunter for treasure. If it is a water- 
less site like Gadara you will find an aqueduct running 
with the road, the pipes hewn out of solid basalt, with a 
diameter like our drain-pipes, and fitting to each other, 
as these do, with flanges. But if it be the more char- 
acteristic site by a stream, you will come to a bridge, one 
of those narrow parapetless Roman bridges which were 
the first to span the Syrian rivers, and have had so few 
successors. You reach the arch, or heap of ruins, that 
marks the old gateway. Within is an open space, probably 
the forum, and from this right through the city you can 
trace the line of the long colonnaded street. Generally 
nothing but the bases of the columns remain, as in the 
street, called Straight, of Damascus, or as at Gadara ; but 
at Philadelphia ten or twelve columns still stand to their 



604 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



full height, and in the famous street of Gerasa nearly two 
hundred. This last street was lined by public and private 
buildings, with very rich fagades. At Gadara you can 
still see a by-street with plain vaulted buildings, probably 
stores or bazaars. 

The best preserved buildings, however, are the amphi- 
theatres, the most beautiful are the temples. 

Some cities of the Decapolis had each two amphi- 
theatres. Those ample, solid basins, with their high tiers 

Amphi- 0I * benches for spectators, were either built 

theatres. above vaulted chambers that were used for 
the actors, the victims and the wild beasts of the great 
shows ; or else, as at Philadelphia, Kanatha and one of the 
Gadara theatres, they rested on the hollow side of a hill. 
They faced in all directions of north and west — the Phila- 
delphian, the Gerasan two, and one of Gadara looked due 
north, but the second Gadarene west, and those of Kanatha 
and Scythopolis west or north-west. The largest was the 
Philadelphian, which held perhaps seven thousand specta- 
tors ; the rest must have varied from two to four thousand. 
Over against the benches, in some theatres,the post-scenium 
still rises, a high wall ornate with pillars, brackets, and 
niches. Several cities contained another place of Greek 
amusement. Where the stream, after passing through 
The Nau- tne town > i ssues from the wall, you see, as at 
machy. Gerasa, the stout banks of a Naumachia, with 
remains of tiers of benches behind them. For, even on 
the borders of the desert the wave-born Greeks built their 
mimic seas, and fought their sham sea-fights. With all 
these public stages, most of the cities had their annual 
HayfcpaTLa, or games in which every kind of athletic 
exercise was exhibited. 



Greece over J or dim : Fhe De capo lis 605 



Some of the temples were very beautiful, as we may 
still see from the well-preserved ruins at Kanatha and 
Gerasa. Oblong in shape, their central hall 

The temples 

was usually from fifty to seventy feet by thirty 
to fifty. They were peripteral, with a double row of 
columns in the front They did not stand on the highest 
part of the town, but always on a platform approached by 
stately steps. The religion of the Decapolis was thoroughly 
Greek. In other towns of Eastern Palestine we find the 
shrines of many of the Nabatean gods, either with their 
own names, or thinly disguised under those of their Greek 
counterparts. But in the Decapolis the gods And the god& 
of Hellas were supreme. Alone of Semitic ofDeca P olis - 
deities was Astarte worshipped, the tower-crowned Astarte^ 
but she was practically Hellenic. Each city worshipped 
her, but had in addition its own Tv^y or Civic Fortune, 
sometimes unnamed. In Scythopolis the people were 
chiefly devoted to Dionysus 1 and Astarte, in Pella to Pallas, 
in Gadara to Zeus, ' the most high Zeus,' Pallas, Herakles 
and Astarte, in Kapitolias to Astarte and Zeus, in Abila to 
Herakles and Astarte, in Kanatha to Zeus and Pallas, in 
Gerasa to Artemis — ' Artemis of the Gerasenes,' like 4 Diana 
of the Ephesians' — in Philadelphia to Pallas, but especially 
to Herakles, 'the Good Fortune of the Philadelphians.' 2 

You will also find the ruins of the Ten Cities strewn 
with reminiscences of their political constitution. The 
ambiguous character of their freedom — muni- constitution 
cipal independence 3 subject to the revision ofthecitles - 
and patronage of the imperial authorities — could not be 

1 See p. 363. 

2 See the coins of these various cities in De Saulcy, Numis. de la T. S. 
Edrei alone of cities within the Decapolis has a Semitic deity, Du-Sara, on 
whom see next chapter : De Saulcy, p. 375. 8 See p. 594. 



606 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



better illustrated than by two fragments which I turned 
up within a few feet of each other in a street in Gerasa 
One was the half of a tombstone of a member of the City 
Council with his title still legible upon it — 

BOTAETTHS 

The other was two feet of basalt carved with enormous 
letters, evidently from an inscription of honour to one 
of the emperors — 

a» TOKPAT cop 

Fragments like these may be found in almost every ruin 
of the Decapolis, arid they bear as decisive testimony as 
any exhaustive political treatise to the double character 
of the Decapolitan constitution. Tombs of Bouleutai 
you will find everywhere. 1 I append one we routed out 
of the modern cemetery at Edrei, where it was doing 
duty, upside down, as the headstone of a sheikh recently 
deceased. It dates from ' the fourth year of the Caesars 
Marcus and Lucius ' (Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus), 
that is, 165 A.D. 2 The Decapolis never forgot Pompey — 
Gadara and Pella call themselves Pompeian. Nearly all 
the emperors appear on their coins. Gadara has a very 
full list from Augustus and Tiberias onward, but it 
was with the Antonines, 130-180, that the Ten cities 

1 Josephus gives the /SoiA^ of Tiberias at 600 members, ii. Wars, xxi. 9 ; 
and that of Gaza at 500, xiii. Anti. xiii. 3. Those of Scythopolis, Gadara, 
and Gerasa, can hardly have been less. 

3 Copied at Edrei, June 21, 1891, from a small slab of basalt : — 

TAIOCAOVKIOC 

BACCOCBOVAEV 

rHCBHOHCENo 

EKTBwNIAIwNTO 

MNHMAetaKAICaP 

N T MAPKOTKAIAoTKIOV. 



Greece over Jordan : The Decapohs 607 



were most flourishing. The Antonines made the great 
roads, and under them Gerasa put on her splendour. 

On some of the ruins of the Decapolis there are still 
visible carven epigrams, reflections on death, and some 
longer pieces of Greek verse. These faintly 

. . r 1 r~ Greek litera- 

witness to the great literary activity of the Ten ture in the 

. .... r t t t 1 Decapolis. 

Cities at the beginning of our era. We have 
already seen what famous centres of Hellenism were the 
coast cities in those days. But the Decapolis had also its 
personages in Greek literature. Gadara produced Philo- 
demus the Epicuraean, a contemporary of Cicero, Meleager 
the epigrammatist, Menippus the satirist, Theodorus the 
rhetorician, the tutor of Tiberius, 1 and others. 2 Gerasa 
also was a mother of great teachers. 3 

We may now touch again a subject we touched before 
— the influence of all this Greek life on Galilee, and the 
beginnings of Christianity. The Decapolis was 

n • r *~>t - t • • ^he Deca- 

nourishing in the time of Christ s ministry, poiis and 
Gadara, with her temples and her amphi- theGospels * 
theatres, with her art, her games and her literature, over- 
hung the Lake of Galilee, and the voyages of its fisher- 
men. A leading Epicuraean of the previous generation, the 
founder of the Greek anthology, some of the famous wits 
of the day, the reigning emperor's tutor, had all been 
bred within sight of the homes of the writers of the New 
Testament. Philodemus, Meleager, Menippus, Theodorus, 
were names of which the one end of the Lake of Galilee 
was proud, when Matthew, Peter, James and John, were 
working at the other end. The temples of Zeus, Pallas, 

1 Strabo xvii. ii. 29 ; cf. Schurer, Hist. ii. 1, 29. 
' Reland, p. 775; Schurer, p. 104. 

* Stephanus Byzantinus, under Ftpacra, mentions three, Ariston, Kerykos 
and Plato. Cf. Schurer, op. cit. pp. 29, 121. 



5o8 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



and Astarte crowned a height opposite to that which 
gave its name to the Sermon on the Mount. Bacchus, 
under his Greek name, ruled the territory down the 
Jordan Valley to Scythopolis. There was another temple 
to Zeus on the other side of Galilee, at Ptolemais, almost 
within sight of Nazareth. We cannot believe that the 
two worlds, which this one landscape embraced, did not 
break into each other. The many roads which crossed 
Galilee from the Decapolis to the coast, the many inscrip- 
tions upon them, the constant trade between the fishermen 
and the Greek exporters of their fish, the very coins — 
everywhere thrust Greek upon the Jews of Galilee. The 
Aramaeic dialect began now to be full of Greek words. 
It is impossible to believe that our Lord and His disciples 
did not know Greek. But, at least, in that characteristic 
Greek city overhanging the Lake of Galilee, in the 
scholars it sent forth to Greece and Rome, we have 
ample proof that the kingdom of God came forth in no 
obscure corner, but in the very face of the kingdoms of 
this world. 



CHAPTER XXIX 
HAURAN AND ITS CITIES 



2Q 



For this Chapter consult Maps I. and IJI 



HAURAN AND ITS CITIES 



WE pass from the Decapolis to other cities of 
Eastern Palestine, very different in origin and 
character. 

In the Decapolis, as we have seen, the life was Greek. 
Rome gave the shelter, and the authority of the Empire 
was supreme, but the arts, letters, manners, The two civii- 
and religion were of Greece. On those noble Decapoiif 
stages of life the seeds of Hellenism had been and Hauran> 
planted for three hundred years ; as soon as Pompey 
fenced them, there sprang up the characteristic forms of 
Greek civilisation. With the cities of Hauran and the 
Trachon it was different. Their civilisation mostly dates 
from a century later than that of the Decapolis, and when 
it appeared it was not pure Greek, but a mixture of Greek 
and Semitic, still cast, however, in the great moulds of 
the Empire. In the Decapolis Rome sheltered Greeks ; 
in those other cities she disciplined half-Greek Syrians 
and wild Arabs. 

To understand this we must survey Hauran and the 
story of its slow civilisation first by Roman vassals and 
then by the emperors themselves. 

Hauran, or ' Hollow,' 1 is the name given to the great 
plain which stretches south from Hermon, between Jaulan 




See p. 552. 



6 1 2 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



and the Leja, and thence, between the mountains of 
Gilead and the Jebel Hauran, runs out upon the Desert. 
In a wider application the name covers also the Leja 
and all fertile ground to the east. 

To this great Plain you rise from Pharpar 1 and the 
lands of Damascus by a series of terraces, each from three 
Description to f° ur miles broad. When you have shaken 
of Hauran. Q ff some jjjUs to the east you are out upon 
Hauran proper, 2000 feet high, and the ground stretching 
level before you to the horizon. Hermon shuts off a 
quarter of heaven in the north-west, but round all the 
rest of the circle you feel only the openness, the light, 
the equal sweep of prairie air. is it night — over the 
free distance the bells of the camel-caravans reach your 
ears an hour before the camels pass. Is it morning — 
the mists as they lift have nothing higher than a tower 
to tear themselves away from, and the great Hajj road 
unrolls to the horizon. Is it noon — the heat does not 
swelter above the shadeless soil, but the wind sweeps 
fresh, as at sea, with the swing of fifty open miles upon 
it The surface of the plain is broken only by a mound 
or two, by a few shallow watercourses, by some short 
outcrops of basalt, and by villages of the same stone, 
the level black line of their roofs cut by a tower or the 
jagged gable of an old temple. All else is a rolling prairie 
of rich, red soil, under wheat, or lying for the year fallow 
in pasture. It is a land of harvests, and if you traverse 
it in summer fills you with the wonder of its 

Its harvests. , , , . , , , 

wealth. Through the early day the camels, 
piled high with sheaves, five or seven swaying corn-stacks 
on a string, draw in from the fields to the threshing-floors 

1 The present Nahr el 'Awaj is probably Pharpar. 



Hauran and its Cities 



613 



These lie along the village walls, each of them some 
fifty square yards of the plain, trodden hard and fenced 
by a low, dry dyke. The sheaves are strewn to the depth 
of two or three feet, and the threshing-sledges, curved 
slabs of wood, studded with basalt teeth, are dragged up 
and down by horses, driven by boys who stand on the 
sledges and sing as they plunge over the billows of 
straw. Poor men have their smaller crops trodden out 
by donkeys driven in a narrow circle three abreast, 
exactly in the fashion depicted on the old Egyptian 
monuments. When the whole mass is cut and bruised 
enough, it is tossed with great forks against the afternoon 
wind, the chopped straw is stored for fodder in some 
ancient vault that has kept the rain out since the days 
of Agrippa or the Antonines ; but the winnowed grain 
is packed in bags and carried on camels to the markets 
of Damascus and Acre. The long lines of these 1 grain- 
boats ' sail down all the summer roads ; one evening at 
Ghabaghib, our first station out of Damascus, we counted 
187 pass our tent, and at the Bridge-of-the-Daughters- 
of-Jacob, over Jordan the Way of the Sea, the train of 
them has been known not to break all night through. 
Hauran wheat is famous round the Levant. The failure 
of the camel carriage to export an average crop— some 
years part of it has to be left to rot unreaped— reconciles 
one to the invasion of Hauran by the Acre-Damascus 
railway. 

The fertility of this Plain is not more striking than 
its want of trees. Except the groves lately i tstreelesy . 
planted round the governor's seat at. El- ness - 
Merkez, there are practically no trees in Hauran. 1 The 

1 Though on the Jebel Hauran there are many oaks. 



6 14 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



people, therefore, use marvellously little timber. The 
threshing-sledges, the yokes and ploughs, the long axles 
on which the giant millstones are trundled from the 
Leja to Damascus, in every village a few doors, stools, 
and boxes — that is all. The rafters, the ceilings, most 
of the doors, the lattices and window-bars, are of stone. 
The originality to which this want of wood stimulated 
the ancient architects of Hauran will be noticed further 
on, but here we may linger for a little on the singular 
and astonishing appearance which the unrelieved use of 
the sombre basalt gives to towns built fifteen hundred 
years ago, and in many cases still standing as the builder 
left them. One remembers the weirdness of wandering 
as a child through the Black Cities of the Arabian Nights] 
one feels this weirdness again in the cities of Hauran. 
Under the strong sun, the basalt takes on a sullen sheen 
its black like polished ebony ; the low and level archi- 
cities. tecture is unrelieved even by threads of 
mortar, for the blocks were cut so fine, and lie so heavy 
on each other, that no cement was needed for the build- 
ing ; there is, besides, an utter absence of trees, bush, ivy 
and all green. This weirdness is naturally greatest where 
the cities, emptied of their inhabitants more than a thou- 
sand years ago, still stand tenantless. An awful silence 
fills the sable ruins ; there is never a face, nor a flower, nor 
the flutter of a robe in all the bare, black streets. But 
the fascination is shared even by the towns into which 
this generation has crept back, and patched their ruins 
with bricks of last winter's mud. In these, I have seen 
the yellow sheaves piled high against the black walls, and 
the dust of the threshing-floors rising thick in the sun- 
beams, but the sunshine showed so pallid and ineffectual 



Hauran and its Cities 



615 



above the sullen stone, that what I looked on seemed 
to be, not the flesh and blood and labour of to-day, 
but the phantasm of some ancient summer afternoon 
flung magically back upon its desolate and irresponsive 
stage. From such dreams one is always wakened by 
the fresh Hauran wind, the breath and quickening of the 
Plain. 

This rich and healthy Plain is dominated by Hermon. 
On Hauran you are never out of sight of Hermon. 
Eighty miles away he is still visible, and Hauran and 
even on the slopes of the Jebel Hauran the Hermon - 
ancient amphitheatres were so arranged that over the 
stage the spectators might have a view of the great hill. 
It is a singular companionship of a noble mountain and 
a noble plain, 

' There is right at the west end of Itaille, 
Down at the root of Vesulus the cold, 
A lusty plain abundant of vitaille, 
Where many a tower and town thou mayest behold 
That founded were in time of fathers old, 
And many another delectable sight ; 
And Saluces this noble country hight.' 

On the east the Plain is framed by a long low line of 
blue. As you approach, the blue darkens, and stands 
out an irregular bank of shiny black rock, 
from thirty to forty feet high, split by narrow 
crevasses as the edge of a mud-heap is split on a frosty day. 
Climb it and you stand on the margin of a vast mass of con- 
gealed lava, three hundred and fifty square miles in extent, 
which has flowed out upon the Plain from some of the now 
extinct craters in the centre of it, and cooling, has broken 
up into innumerable cracks and fissures. Sometimes it 



616 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



looks like an ebony glacier with irregular crevasses 
Elsewhere it ' has the appearance of the sea, when in 
motion beneath a dark, cloudy sky, and when the waves 
are of good size, but without any white crests of foam/ 1 
Here and there the eddies of liquid lava have been caught 
in the very swirl of them, or, as it broke in large bubbles 
and curved over in sluggish waves, the viscous mass has 
been fixed for ever to the forms of sharp-edged hollows 
and caverns. This ' petrified ocean ' is without neither 
soil nor fresh water. Springs abound, there are even 
a few small lakes, and there are many fields. The 
ruins of villages are numerous, and a number of the 
crevasses have been artificially widened to admit the 
passage of roads. 

This Leja, this Trachon, not high, but wild and very 
intricate, almost bridges the quiet plain between Hermon 
and the Jebel Hauran, and has at most periods enabled 
the inhabitants of these two ranges to combine and 
tyrannise over the peaceful populations of Hauran proper 
and Damascus. 

In the beginning of the first century before Christ 
Hermon was held by the half-settled Ituraeans ; the 
Western Hauran was under the Jew, Alexander 
the Romans Janneus, while the Nabateans occupied every- 
to Hauran. fa[ n g e j se to the east, including Damascus, the 
rest of Hauran, and the Leja. 2 When the Romans came 
in 64 B.C., 3 besides freeing the Greek cities of Gaulanitis 
and Gilead from the Jews, they drove the Nabateans to 
the southern edge of Hauran, where their northernmost 

> Merrill, East of for dan, p. n. 2 See end of last chapter. 

' Pompey sent Scaurus with the first legions to Damascus in 65 B.C., and 
himself followed in 64 ; when he went to Europe next year he left Scaurui 
behind, who subdued the Nabateans. 



Hauran and its Cities 



617 



cities continued to be Bosra and Salkhat. 1 But the 
Romans did not then occupy Hauran itself. 2 For the next 
forty years the reports are meagre. In 25, Trachonitis 
and Hauran were under the nominal rule of one Zeno- 
dorus, who had also leased part of the Itursean domains on 
the slopes of Hermon. 8 He did not protect the peaceful 
inhabitants from the robbers of the Leja, and they ap- 
pealed to Varro, the Governor of Syria. Augustus ordered 
Varro to displace Zenodorus by Herod, who 

L # Herod the 

had already conducted war in this region, and Great in 

Hauran. 

to whom Gadara and Hippos, 4 on its western 
borders, for the time belonged. 5 Herod had great diffi- 
culty, with the Arab robbers of the Leja, 6 and their 
allies the Nabateans. 7 It was only after he had put a 

1 There is a Nabatean inscription in Bosra of the eleventh year o' 
Malchus II. (not Malchus I. as designated by Schurer, Hist. div. I. vol. ii. 
p. 335, for there was an earlier Nabatean Malchus, known to us from coins 
only, whom Schurer omits from his lists), i.e. about 40 B.C., C.I.S. II. i. 
No. 174. 

2 There was a Reman governor in Damascus at least from 44 to 42 B.C. 
(xiv. Antt. xi. 7 ; xii. I ; i. Wars f xii. 1, 2). Somewhere about 36 Mark 
Antony gave Cleopatra 1 Ccele-Syria ' (see p. 538) and parts of the Judaean and 
Arabian territories (Josephus, xv. Antt. iii. 8, iv. I, 2 j i. Wars, xviii. 5). 

3 xv. Antt. x. I ; i. Wars, xx. 4. That Zenodorus was ruler of Trachon- 
itis is expressly said ; that he also ruled Auranitis is obvious from his attempt 
to sell it to the Nabateans (xv. Antt. x. 2). 

4 In 32 B.C. Herod had been defeated by Nabateans at Kanatha (i. Wars, 
xix. 2; at Kana, xv. Antt. v. 1), but had afterwards subdued them. 

5 Since 30 B.C. : xv. Antt. vii. 3 ; i. Wars, xx. 3. 

8 Varro himself had previously punished them, i. Wars, xx. 4. 

7 First he routed the Trachonit.es, * procuring peace and quietness for the 
neighbouring peoples ' (xv. Antt. x. I ; i. Wars, xx. 4). But they, 1 obliged 
to live quietly, which they did not like, and when they took pains with the 
ground it bare but little,' took advantage of his absence in Rome to revolt (xvi. 
Antt. ix. I). His troops subdued them, forty of their chiefs escaping to 
Nabatea. On his return he slew some who remained in Trachon, whereupon 
the forty fugitives had a blood-feud against him, and, in alliance with the 
Nabateans, harassed his borders. Herod put a garrison of 3000 Iduma:ans 
into Trachonitis. But, in taking the punishment of the Nabateans into his 



618 The Historical Geography of the Holy La?id 



garrison of 3000 Idumaeans in Trachonitis, and called a 
Jew named Zamaris from Babylonia, and built for him in 
Batanea fortresses and a village called Bathyra, 1 that he 
was successful. Zamaris kept down the robbers of the 
Leja, 2 'protected jews coming up on pilgrimage from 
Babylon,' and, when Herod declared freedom from taxes, 
• the land became full of people.' 3 A few public buildings 
were erected. A temple near Kanatha was built, in the 
bulk of it, by Herod, 4 and the ruins still contain an inscrip- 
tion recording the erection of a statue to him. This is the 
earliest Greek inscription discovered in these regions. 6 
Herod was evidently the pioneer of civilisation in Hauran. 

At Herod's death in 4 B.C., Philip, his son, received for 
a tetrarchy Gaulanitis, Batanea, Trachonitis, Auranitis, 



the son of Zamaris, who supplied him with cavalry. 7 His 
just and gentle reign has no annals ; the only account of 
his kingdom is that of Strabo, who, writing of theTrachons 
about 25 A.D., that is, when Christ was beginning to preach 
in Galilee, says that 1 the barbarians used to rob the mer- 

own hands, he displeased Augustus. The Nabateans, in this, 4 refused to 
pay for their pastures,' i.e. overran Hauran, as usual every year, with their 
own flocks. Then he called Zamaris as above (xvii. Antt. ii. 1-3). 

1 xvii. Antt. ii. 1, 2. Does the name Bathyra survive in Busr-(el-Hariri) 
on the south margin of the Leja? 

2 It is not asserted that he conquered the Leja itself. 3 Ibid. 

4 It is at Seia, now Si'a, half an hour from Kanawat, De Vogue, Syrit 
Centrale : Archit. Civile et Religieuse, vol. i. pi. 1. It was to begin with a 
Nabatean building. The inscription on the statue of Herod is given by Wadd. 
2364. The erector was one Obaisatos. 

6 The dale of another monument and inscription at Suweda (Soada) of 
Odairatos, the son of Annehis, is uncertain. It belongs to the first century 
either before or after Christ. Wadd. 2320 ; De Vogu6, as above, pi. I. 

• See pp. 540 ff. 7 xvii. Antt. ii. 1-2. 



Philip the 
Tetrarch, 
B.C. 4-A.D. 34. 



and a 'certain part of the domain of Zeno- 
dorus,' or all the country from Hermon to the 
Yarmuk. 6 He was greatly helped by Jakim, 



Hauran and its Cities 



619 



chants most generally on the side of Arabia Felix, but this 
happens less frequently since the destruction of robber 
bands under Zenodorus, by the good government of the 
Romans, and as a result of the security afforded by the 
soldiers stationed in Syria.' 1 This means that though 
Arab raids still happened, they were less frequent. In the 
records of Christ's ministry we never hear even a rumour 
of Arabs, but we see bits of the big bulwark which, Strabo 
says, was keeping them away — the Centurion, the Legion, 
the superscription of Caesar. Something, however, of the 
difficulties of communication, and of the insecurity which 
prevailed in spite of the Romans, may be felt in such 
parables as that of the binding of the strong man and 
spoiling of his goods, or that of the wicked husbandmen 
who slew their master's heir. 

At Philip's death in 34 his tetrarchy was taken back 
into the Province of Syria, but was allowed to administer 
its own revenues. 2 In 37 Caligula bestowed it 
upon Herod Agrippa, 3 who afterwards received Agrippa, 
the rest of his grandfather's domains. Agrippa's 7 441 

territory extended as far east as the further slopes of the 
Jebel Hauran, where an inscription of his has been dis- 
covered. 4 But the Nabateans, under King Aretas, still held 
Bosra and Salkhat, and for the time Damascus The Conver . 
had been yielded to them by the Romans. sionofPaui. 
Paul tells us that when he came back to Damascus from 
Arabia, three years after his conversion, an ethnarch 
under Aretas the king 5 held the city of the Damascenes ; 6 
and while we have imperial coins of Damascus under 

1 Strabo xvi. 2, § 20. 2 xviii. Antt. iv. 6. 

* xviii. Antt. vi. 6-10; ii. Wars, ix. 5. * At El-Mushennef, Wadd. 221 1. 

B Aretas, iv., 9 B.C. -40 a.d. • 2 Cor. xi. 32, cf. Acts ix. 23 ff 



620 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Augustus and Tiberius down to 33 A.D., we have none 
under Caligula or Claudius, or till the ninth year of Nero 
in 63. How Damascus had come from the Romans into 
the hands of Aretas we do not know ; 1 and we are 
equally ignorant of the reasons that led the Nabatean 
ethnarch to take the side of the Damascus Jews, and 
seek, on their request, to arrest Paul. 2 Three years 
earlier the synagogues of Damascus had presumably 
sufficient independence and authority to give up to Paul 
and his commission from the high priest such Jews as 
had gone over to Christianity. On that occasion Paul's 
journey to Damascus from Jerusalem took him across 
some part of Hauran. The Arabia into which he went 
after his conversion was not Hauran, as some imagine, 3 
but either the lonely Harras to the east of the Lej'a or 
Nabatea proper, — Bosra, Salkhat, Petra, and farther south, 
perhaps, to Sinai. 4 Agrippa found Hauran not yet per- 
fectly civilised. In a proclamation of date 41 A.D. he 
appears to exhort the inhabitants to leave off their 

1 Some think he took it by war on the withdrawal of the troops oi 
Vitellius, when the death of Tiberius took place (xviii. Antt. v. 3). So 
Neander, Planting and Training of the Christian Church, Eng. Ed. iii. 2 ; 
Porter, Five Years in Damascus, i. 103. But that the Romans should let & 
town like Damascus go by war seems incredible ; so Conybeare and Howson, 
Life and Epistles of St. Paul, and Schiirer favour the theory that Caligula 
gave Damascus to Aretas (Hist. i. ii. 357 f). Perhaps when Herod Agrippa 
got Philip's tetrarchy, it was felt by Caligula that the great foe of the 
Herodian house should also get some territory. Aretas had defeated Herod 
Antipas a few years before (Josephus, xviii. Antt. v. 3). 

2 The Jews of Damascus were very numerous and powerful (ii. Wars, xx. 
2 ; vii. Wars, viii. 7), but perhaps there had been under Caligula's rearrange- 
ment of Syria a new agreement of Aretas with Agrippa and the Jews. 
Aretas had been the sworn foe of Herod Antipas. 

' E.g. Woldemar Schmidt, in Herzog's Real Encyclopadie (ed. 2) xi. 364. 

* Gal. i. 16, 17, cf. On Mount Sinai, iv. 25. Whether Paul preached in 
Arabia is very doubtful. It does not necessarily follow, as Porter thinks, 
from a comparison of vcr. 16 with ver. 17 in Gal. i 



Naur an and its Cities 621 



beast-like manner of life in caves, and build themselves 
houses. 1 This proclamation breathes the confidence of 
ability to protect the Hauranites, and has even been called 
1 the point of departure for the architectural history of the 
country.' 2 Certain it is that whereas from before this date 
we possess only two Greek inscriptions 3 from Hauran, 
among many in the Nabatean language, Greek inscrip- 
tions now rapidly multiply, and we have numerous records 
in stone of the building of public edifices. 

Agrippa died in 44, in the fashion described in the Book 
of Acts, 4 and as his son Agrippa was just seventeen, the 
Romans resumed the administration of all 

. Interval of 

Palestine by a Procurator under the Governor Roman rule, 
of Syria. 5 The only inscription from this period '°" 44 S °* 
is in Nabatean, at Hebran, south of Kanatha, 'of the 
seventh year of Claudius Caesar.' 6 From this we ascer- 
tain that the boundary between the Roman province (ot 
the kingdom of Agrippa) and the Nabatean kingdom, ran 
south of Hebran, but north of Bosra and Salkhat, for these 
latter were cities of the Nabatean kings. 7 

1 Wadd. 2329a, an inscription in Kanatha. But the inscription is frag- 
mentary, and the above interpretation doubtful. In any case, the proclama- 
tion cannot have been meant for Kanatha, which had been a free city with 
coins since Pompey's time. 

" De Vogue, Architecture Civile et Religieuse de la Syrie Centrale. 

* The one about the statue to Herod, see p. 618 ; and another on a monu- 
ment at Suweda, ancient Soada, south of Kanawat, which is also given in 
Nabatean. Wadd. 2320; De Vogue, op. cit. PI. 1.; C.7.S., Pars II. torn. 1. 
No. 162, w here it is ascribed, because of the form of the Nabatean letters, to 
the first cemury before Christ. 

4 xii. 20 ff., cf. Josephus, xix. Antt. viii. 2 ; ii. Wars, xi. 6. 

6 xix. Antl. ix. 1, 2 ; ii. Wars, xi. 6. 

4 "lD"pD^p5> WW T\W ; in C.I.S., Pars 11. torn. I. No. 170. It records 
the erection of a portal by Maliku, a priest of the goddess Allat. 

7 For Bosra, see above, p. 617, n. 1. In Salkhat there are two inscriptions : 
one of the seventeenth year of Malchus III. (not Malchus 11. as designated 
by Schiirer, see p. 617 «. 1), i.e. about 65 a.d. ; the other of the twenty-fifth 
year of Rab'el, i.e. 95 or 96 A.D. 



622 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



In 50, Agrippa II. received from Claudius the kingdom 
of Chalcis in the Lebanon, 1 and in 53 the old tetraichies 
Agrippa 11., °f Philip an d Lysanias, 2 so that once more 
a.d. 50-100. Hauran came under a Jewish prince. He was 
the very worst of his line. This enthusiast for Nero, this 
trifler with Paul, this pander to his sister's shame, this 
purveyor of Roman rejoicings at his people's overthrow, 
this royal camp-follower, this ape whom Titus led about, 
has caused himself to be styled in his Hauran inscriptions 
the Great King, Lover of Caesar, Pious, Lover of Rome. 8 
He called his first capital after Nero, 4 through sore humilia- 
tion he held to all the Flavian emperors, and it is perhaps 
a sign of the same subserviency that the only inscription 
which has been discovered recognising the three months' 
reign of Otho is one upon Agrippa's domains in Hauran. 6 
There are still extant several buildings from the second 

1 The kingdom of his uncle Herod ; xx. Antt. v. 2 ; ii. Wars, xii. I. 

9 The latter included Abila and the Lebanon domains of Varus, which 
stretched far north (xx. Antt. vii. I, note the curious order ; ii. Wars, xii. 8) ; 
afterwards some parts of Galilee and Peraea were added (xx. Antt. viii. 4 ; 
ii. Wars, xiii. 2). 

* fiacnXefo /xtyas, (pCKoKaicrap, cucre/Srjs teal <pi\opJ>fiatos ; on an inscription at 
Si'a, near Kanatha, Waddington, 2365. 

* See p. 475- 

6 Discovered by us on the top of a straw-store at Tuffas, two hours north- 
west of El-Muzeirib, on 19th June 1891 (see Critical Review, ii. 59). On the 
death of Nero in 68, Agrippa 11., and Titus, the latter sent by Vespasian, set 
out from Syria to Rome to salute Galba, but heard on the way of Galba's 
death. Agrippa went onto salute Otho, but Titus returned to his father with 
the news, and Vespasian's legions, then on the east of the Lake of Galilee, 
within a few hours of Tuffas, took the oath to Otho. Here is the inscription 
carved in curious oblong letters ; the Q being shaped like the Hebrew 
letter shin : 

L APTIIBPTHEATTOKRAI .... 
CT0TMAPK0T060N0EEOTHI .... 
AO* IHEAIOrENOTEIJATHPTI . . 
ETO NETN AIEATEM'AAIEIOIK. . 
TK EIAEXAPINT. . 



Hauran and its Cities 



623 



Agrippa's reign, and numerous inscriptions : for instance, 
the latest portions of the temple at Si'a, 1 a temple at Es- 
Sunamein, on the Hajj road south of Damascus, the 
inscriptions there and elsewhere, 2 Agrippa died in 100, 
and his territories appear again to have fallen within the 
Roman Province of Syria. 

During this period the Nabateans continued to surround 
Agrippa's territories on the south, where they still occupied 
Bosra and Salkhat; 8 and on the east, where Thenew 
they held a post even as far north as Admedera, p^™ 6 of 
the first station on the road from Damascus to A D - IO °- 
Palmyra*— Damascus itself had been taken back from 
them by the Romans in the reign of Nero, 6 — but in 106 
A.D., Trajan, by the hands of Cornelius Palma, Governor 
of Syria, brought the whole Nabatean kingdom into the 

1 See p. 618, n. 4. 

2 We found the slab with the inscription at Es-Sunamein, serving as the 
end of the village sheikh's dust -box. I have reproduced it in the Critical 
Review, ii. (1892), p. 56. I find it was previously given in Z.D.P.V. vii. 
(1884), pp. 121 f. It records the dedication of a portal, with little victories, 
images, and little lions, to ' Zeus the Lord.' The double date, ' the thirty, 
seventh year, which is also the thirty-second of King Agrippa,' I explained in 
the Critical Review by the difference between Agrippa's right to succeed his 
father in 44-45 a.d. and his actual accession to a kingdom in 49-50. Schurer 
{Hist., Div. 1. vol. ii. pp. 194 f.) refers the smaller number to an era of 
Agrippa II. beginning in 61, and the greater to a supposed era beginning five 
years earlier in 56. For this latter there is no evidence whatever. I think 
De Saulcy is right in interpreting the former as an era, net of Agrippa 
himself but of Caesarea-Philippi. I therefore hold to the interpretation which 
I gave in the Critical Review. 

8 There are two Nabatean inscriptions at Salkhat : one of the seventeenth 
year of Maichus in. (not Malchus II., as Schurer designates him, see 
p. 617), i.e. about 65 a.d. ; one of the twenty-fifth year of Rab'el, 
95 or 96 a.d. ; besides a third of uncertain date ; C.I.S. Pars II. torn. I. 
No. 182-184. 

4 The present Dmer or Maksurah, C.Z.S., Pars II. torn. I. No. 161. This 
inscription also belongs to the reign of Rab'el, 71-106 a.d. : cf- Wadd. 2562 g, 

6 53-68 A.D. 



624 1 he Historical Geography of the Holy Laud 



Empire, and created out of it the new Province of Arabia, 
with Bosra as the capital. 1 

This was the most decisive step in the history of 
Hauran. The fertile plain was no longer the ragged edge 
Civilisation of °f civilisation, but an inner province of the 
Hauran. Empire. Between the wilderness and herself 
there was organised another Roman province, and the 
wonderful Roman frontier. Therefore, with 106 A.D., the 
often checked civilisation of Hauran may be said to have 
got fairly under way. The Romans immediately instituted 
public works. The aqueduct already mentioned from 
El-Afine to Kanata was built by Cornelius Palma him- 
self, 2 and other great aqueducts and reservoirs are probably 
to be assigned to about the same date. During the 
second and third centuries, basilicas, temples, theatres, 3 
multiplied in the old cities : but a still more evident sign 
of prosperity was the rise of a multitude of villages to the 
rank of cities. Those ruins, so numerous, that as you 
travel across Hauran you are never out of sight of some of 
them, so strongly built of their basalt, that from many it 
seems as though their inhabitants had fled but yesterday 
—these are the shells of the Roman peace. In some 
primeval tranquillity of man, 'giant cities of Bashan ' may 
have risen, as is alleged, 4 on this margin of the desert ; but 
if so, these are not their ruins. With the exception of a 
stray inscription to a Hebrew Herod and Agrippa, to a 
Nabatean Malchus or Rab'el, themselves but Roman 
vassals, there is in Hauran no written record of a life 

1 Dio Cassius, lxviii. 14: ITaX^as; rrjs Zvplas &pxw ti\v 'Apaftiav tt)V 
irpos t§ RerpgL £x eL P& caT0 > Ka * Pw/uaW virrjuoov iiroirjaaTO. Cf. Reland ; 
Mommsen, Prov. of the Roman Empire, II. 

3 Waddington, 2296-97 ; cf. 2301, 2308. • Like the one in Bosra. 

« Porter. Giant Cities of Bashan. Cf. Wetzstein, Reisebericht, pp. 81 f. 



Hauran and its Cities 



625 



earlier than the beginning of the Empire by Trajan. 
Thereafter inscriptions abound. The letters are Greek, 
the religion of which they speak may be Syrian, but the 
civil power they acknowledge is Rome. The Legions have 
left their stamp everywhere. In Bashan there is scarcely a 
single ruin but it bears upon it the name of at least one of 
the Emperors. As in Decapolis, so in Hauran, i tS R 0man 
you stumble on bits of basalt with some of frame * 
the syllables of Autokrator upon them : the letters are 
Greek, but they only translate Imperator. The gods of 
the temples bear Semitic names, or have received their 
Greek equivalents, Zeus, Herakles, Athene, Tyche, and 
so forth, but it is a Valens, a Caius, a Publius, a Lucilius, 
an Ulpius, who are inscribed as benefactors of the temples. 
It is Flavii, Bassi and Cornelii who are buried around 
them. Where two generations are named together, the 
name of the father is nearly always Semitic, the name of 
the son is very frequently Latin, and never Greek — a 
curious proof of the Latinising of the natives. ' Farewell, 
O Rufus, son of Ath ! veteran, aged 75 j' 1 'of Valens, son 
of Aziz;' 2 'Bassos, son of Zabd;' 3 'Hadrian, son of 
Malekh.' 4 Seldom is this reversed, but we found a tomb- 
stone, near Sheikh Miskin on the Hajj road, with the name 
' Authos, son of Priscus.' 6 Sometimes it is a native of 

1 6dp<r{e) "Pod(p£ *A6ov overpavds £T(u)y)ot, Wadd. 2039. 

3 OvaXevros 'A^i^ov, Wadd. 2046. 
8 fiaaaos Zafidov, Wadd. 2070 i. 

4 At Khurbet el Araje, Wadd. 2196. 'ASpiavov rod Kal 2oai8ov MaXfyov 
idvdpxov, (TTparTffOv vofidduiy t6 p.vt]\iiov irQiv XjS'. 'ASSos d8eX<pbs irQv kt). 
Contemporary with the Emperor Hadrian. Cf. 1982, 2070 I., 2079, 2I 74« 

6 Ai/6os UpeLcrxov £t7j? Critical Review, ii. (1892). On the road to El 
Merkez, a little way out of Sheikh Miskin, there is a cairn which the slab 
with this inscription surmounts. The shepherds affirmed it to be the tomb of 
Sheikh Mohammad el 'Ajamy ; cf. Schumacher, Across Jordan, p. 118, for a 
Sheikh el 'Ajamy, whose tomb is shown at El 'Ajamy on the Upper Yarmuk. 

2 R 



626 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Germany or of Gaul, drafted here for service on the 
Arabian border, whose epitaph tells you how he died 
thinking of his fatherland : ' . . . born (?) and a lover of his 
country, having come from Germany and died in the 
Agrippian troop, was taken back to his own.' 1 

It is, however, in her roads, and the records of her 
The Roman frontier, that there survives fullest proof of 
roads. Rome's power. The Roman roads diverged 
from Damascus — one skirting Hermon to Caesarea-Philippi ; 
two crossing Gaulanitis to the Jordan bridges above and 
below the Lake of Galilee, one striking south through the 
Leja to Bosra, and perhaps one down the east of the 
Leja. to Kanatha. At right angles to these ran others, 
especially the Great Eastern road from Gadara to Edrei, 
Bosra, Sakha, and thence boldly into the desert in the 
direction of the Persian Gulf. 2 'The Rasif, or Roman 
road in these lands, is twelve paces broad, and is divided 
by five rows of upright stones into three divisions of equal 
breadth, the two outer rows are bordered by a ditch more 
or less deep, according to the level.' 3 When we pass out 
on to the borders of the desert, we see how marvellous 
was the line of the Roman defence. In the border villages, 
The Roman or ky tne roaQl s as they plunge into the waste 
frontier. towards Palmyra or the Euphrates, marked 
by rows of black stones, on some hillock with no view 
but the desert, you read the official marks of the Legions, 
and the rough graffiti which the soldiers scribbled through 

1 . . . reroi Kal (pikSirarpis and Tep/xavlas &v£\6u»> K<xl kv etXrj 'Aypivmcivji 
iiro9avCo(v) els rd tdia /xedrjp^x^Vi Wadd. 2121. 

8 It is impossible to ascertain the exact dates of these. The roads through 
Ihe Lejd. may be as old as the conquest of the Leja by Varro in 23 B.C. 
See p. 617, n. 6. The most of the milestones are of the Antonines. 

8 Wetzstein, Rcisebericht, 73. 



Hauran and its Cities 



627 



the tedium of their desert watch. 1 Even more conspicuous 
is the skill by which Rome won the nomads to her service 
and fastened them down in defence of the border they 
had otherwise fretted and broken. On chiefs of tribes 
were bestowed the titles Phylarch, Ethnarch, and Strategus 
of the Nomads. 2 

Behind this Roman bulwark there grew up a curious, a 
unique civilisation talking Greek, imitating Rome, but at 
heart Semitic. We have seen how overrun The Semitic 
with Arabs Hauran was before Rome came, elements - 
how her earliest civilisers were themselves Semites, — a 
Herod, a Philip, an Agrippa, 'three thousand Idumaeans,' 
a colony of ' Babylonian Jews;' and we have seen how an 
Arab civilisation, the Nabatean, grew up to the south of 
Hauran. Nor did the Semitic influences upon Hauran 
cease when Rome made her frontiers secure to the east of 
it. The nomads continued to immigrate in even greater 
numbers than before, yet they came not to rob but 
to settle, and to add their own weight to the resistance 
which Rome offered to the tides of the desert. Of these 
immigrations the most distinguished was that of the Beni 
Jafn, who left Yemen in 104 A.D., and towards the close 
of the century settled within the borders of the Empire. 3 
But there were many who came with and after the 
Beni Jafn, and the border garrisons seem to have been 

1 At Namara, for instance, a good day's journey from the frontier villages 
of Hauran into the desert. Among the graffiti Qatfios 215/xov and Tdddot 
8po/j.e5api{o)s, Wadd. 2267 (on the dromedary troops, cf. Wadd. 1946, 2424): 
the names of the Second and Third Legions. Id. 2279, 2281. 

2 ' Phylarch,' Wadd. 2404, etc.; for * Ethnarch,' ' Strategus of the nomads,' 
§ee inscription on p. 625, n. 4. ; also Wadd. 2112, at El Hit, where Wadding- 
ton thinks he found evidence of the presence of an Augustan band, Acts xxvii. 
I; the fragment is aireLpyjs Ay. . . . Cf. Ewing, 70: Gey Atf/xou ; Wadd. 
2441 ; Ewing, 88. 5 See p. 9 ; cf. Wadd. 21 10, 2413 



628 The Historic at Geography of the Holy Land 



largely composed of Arab soldiers. The Greek and Latin 
elements of the population, as in other Oriental provinces, 
did not endure. Hauran must have remained essentially- 
Semitic. The Greek of the inscriptions is Greek written by 
Semites : containing many blunders and barbarisms, and 
betraying the influence of the Semitic phonology. 1 We 
have seen that in the families which rose to the position 
of having an ornate tomb, or of being able to dedicate a 
temple, the name of the father was nearly always Semitic 
— a contrast to the monuments of the Decapolis, in which 
Semitic names are very infrequent. Again, in the 
temples of Hauran, the names of the gods are not alto- 
gether Greek, as in the Decapolis, but we meet with 
Baalsamin, Du Sara, Athi, Aziz, Aumos, Allat, Vagrah, 
The Nabatean anc * tne curious Theandrites. Herod's temple 
demes. at gj a < j s dedicated to Baalsamin, Baal of the 

Heavens, 2 probably the Zeus Megistos Keraunios of the 
Greek inscriptions. Du Sara was a Sun-God, giver of 
fertility and joy, whom the Greeks identified with 
Dionysus. 8 His symbols, the vine and the wine-cup, still 
ornament some lintels in many of the villages of Hauran ; 
the chief centres of his worship w r ere Petra and El-Hejr 
in Central Arabia, but it is a proof of the distance to which 
Nabatean commerce extended that v/e find two tablets 

1 Wadd. 2081, aevvorov T\}W : 2090, tt&tuv tt&vtcjv : cf. IQ16, 2049-53, etc. 

s \"DV]}2 contracted from jW&JO, C.I.S., Pars II. torn. 1. No. 163. 

1 In Nabatean, C.J.S., Pars II. torn. I. No. 157 at Puteoli ; 160 

at Rome; 190 Umrn el Jemal, south of Bosra, frequently in the monuments 
of El-Hejr, 197 ff. In Greek Aov<rapi]s y Wadd. 2023 ; 2312 with the epithet 
i^lKrjros, also applied to"HAtos in 2392. Cf. the proper name Aovcrapios, 1916. 
Hpiphanius {Nacres. ) describes the feast at Petra at the winter solstice in honour 
of Du Sara and his virgin mother. See also Tertullian, Apolog. 24. In 
Z.D.M.G. xiv. 465, the name is derived from Sheraa, a chain of mountains 
in Arabia, as if 'Lord of Shera/ Cf. Baethgeti, Bcitragc zur Semiiischen 
Religionsgisckichle, pp. 94-97. 



Hauran and its Cities 629 



dedicated to him at Rome and Puteoli. Allat was 4 the 
mother of the gods, the goddess of Salkhat,' which city 
was specially sacred to her. 1 Aziz, the Mighty, Athi and 
Aumos were deities of lower rank. 2 The Greek name 
of Theanduos or Theandrites is as puzzling as it is 
interesting : the Semitic original is unknown* 

In the architecture of Hauran native elements are no 
less conspicuous. We have no more the mere imitations 
of the great Greek orders which we found in 

b The archi- 

the Decapolis; but the lines and the ornaments tecture of 
of building are determined both by the habits 
of Oriental art and by the nature of the peculiar material 
with which Hauran architects had to work. The oldest 
building of all, the temple at Sia', 4 was erected by Herod, 
a prince already under the influence of Hellenic culture ; 
but its unmistakable Greek lines are strongly modified 
by Eastern ideas. 6 De Vogue thinks that in its ruins we 
can see some reflection of the plan of the temple at 
Jerusalem, which was not only contemporary but likewise 

1 C.I.S., Pars 11. torn. I. Nos. 170, 171, 182, 183, 185; 182 runs: 'this is 
the house which Ruhu, son of Malkhu, son of Akhlibn, son of Ruhu, built to 

Allat, their goddess a contradiction of Renan's theory that the 

expression 'goddess' was impossible in Semitic). In 185 Allat is associated 
with Vagrah. Cf. Baethgen, Beitrcige, etc., 98, 99. 

2 Aziz, Wadd. 2314 (Suweida), identified on an inscription in Dacia with 
Apollo ; Athi on an inscription at Egla (El Ageilat) Batanea, Wadd. 2209; 
Qeu) aurQv 'Eddy worshipped at Palmyra under the name TlJJ- To Av/io<> are 
inscriptions at Deir el Leben, Wadd. 2392, 2394, on a large temple of 320 
A.D., on the latter of which he seems identified with the Sun. Cf. 2463 and 
2464 (Hauran in Trachonitis), on the latter of which the name Aumos belongs 
to a Christian man. 

8 Qe&vbptos, Wadd. 1905; Qeaydph-qs, 2046, 2481. * See p. 618. 

8 On the principles of the architecture of Hauran, the chief authority is 
De Vogue, Syrie Centrak, Architecture Civile el Reh'gieuse ; see especially, 
for the information which forms the basis of the above paragraphs, the 
Avant Propos of this excellent work. 



530 The Historical: Geography of the Holy Land 



the work of Herod. It was, however, the peculiarity 
of their building materials which chiefly influenced the 
ancient architects of Hauran. Their country, as we have 
seen, was practically treeless ; they had to 

Its originality, 

construct entirely of stone, and the basalt 
which was at their disposal not only served for masonry, 
but allowed itself to be cut into beams, slabs, lattice-work, 
and other shapes for which wood was usually employed. 
Consequently the building of Hauran developed a style 
of its own. This took the form of a series of parallel 
arches, across which were laid long beams or rafters of 
basalt, 1 and again on these the slabs of the ceiling. Some 
of these roofs are still solid ; above the rafters of others 
there are scattered a number of big stones, so that you 
have a trellis roof through which the sunshine is fretted 
on the floor beneath. 2 But frequently the roof took the 
form of the cupola, and in this you see the ' first essays 
towards the Byzantine style of architecture, and especially 
towards putting the cupola on a square by means of 
spherical pendentives.' 3 The parallel arches, straining 
outwards, required some exterior bulwark ; and, conse- 
quently, along many of the public buildings of Hauran 
you find solid buttresses running the entire length of the 
walls, and built in the form of steps and stairs. They 
are the favourite benches of the village school, when the 
sun is not too fierce ; the bright children, scattered over 
these ancient buttresses, compose a cnarming picture. 
The elevation of the buildings is generally low, but never 

1 De Vogue describes the slabs as laid directly on the arches, but in the 
specimens I examined the long basalt beams intervene. 
s As in the Menzil at Es-Sunamein and elsewhere. 

5 De Vogue* as above. The oldest extant specimen of the cupola u 
Umm ei Zeitun, and it dates from 282 A.D. 



Hauran and its Cities 



631 



mean ; the decorations few and simple. The basalt al- 
lowed less carving than the limestone of Gilead, but it 
has preserved the inscriptions better. It is a wonder to 
see the carved stone lattices of the windows, and the 
great stone doors turning on their stone hinges, 

Most of the public buildings appear to have risen in 
the times of the Antonines and of Septimius Severus, — 
Temples, Basilicas, Theatres, and also those round towers, 
which all civilisations have found indispensable in war- 
fare with the Arabs. 1 

But there had entered Hauran a new force, which was 
gradually to change both the religion and the art of the land. 

The early course of Christianity across Jordan is ex- 
tremely obscure. In Western and Northern Syria, in 
Mesopotamia, and in Persia, we have com- 

Early 

paratively full accounts of the organisation Christianity 
of the Church, but in Eastern Syria and 
Arabia her early history is almost a blank. We know 
of our Lord's ministry in Decapolis and Persea, 2 and of 
Paul's conversion and the little band of disciples at 
Damascus, 3 and of Paul's possible ministry in Arabia. 4 
The Christians of Jerusalem fled from the siege to Pella, 6 
where it is said that the Ebionite heresy first developed, 8 
and the Christianity of Eastern Palestine is described 
more than once as of this Judaistic kind — enforcing the 
Mosaic law, affirming the human birth of Christ, abjuring 

1 Cf. Uzziah's use of towers, 2 Chron. xxvi 9, 10 ; and that of the Turks 
to-day along the Hajj road. Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. passim. 

9 Mark v. I and x. 1. 3 Acts ix.; 2 Cor, xi. 

4 Gal. i. 15-17 : But when it was ike good p/easure of God . . . to reveal 
His Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles . . . I went 
away into A rabia, and again I returned unto Damascus. 

8 Eusebius, H.E. iii. 5. There are no remains of this date. 

* Epiphanius, adv. Hares, xxx. 2. 



632 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Paul as a heretic, and looking for the return of Christ to 
found an earthly kingdom. 1 But of all this there are no 
remains, not even at Pella, and the earliest record we 
have of an active Christianity in Hauran is of the estab- 
lishment of a monastery in 1 80 A.D. by 'Amr L, a Ghas- 
sanide prince. About 218 A.D. Origen paid two visits to 
the east of Jordan ; the first on the call of the Governor 
of Arabia to explain to him his doctrine, 2 and the second 
to an Arabian Synod, at which he overthrew 

Origen and 

the Synod the heresy of Beryllus, the Bishop of Bosra, 
and propounded the eternal generation of the 
Son. 3 From Schuhba in Trachonitis came the first 
Christian emperor. Philip, the Arabian, was the son of a 
Bedawee chief, was at least a nominal Christian, and 
occupied the Imperial throne from 244 to 249.* The 
Christians of these regions must have suffered, like those 
of the rest of Syria, in the persecutions under 

The persecu- 

tions and Decius and Diocletian, and it is perhaps owing 
to the latter emperor's order for the destruc- 
tion of all Christian buildings that we have so very few 
Christian remains earlier than his day. Traces of these 
great persecutions are still eloquent in Hauran — one 
cryptogram for Christ, the IX0T2 of the catacombs;* 
another, XMT, found only here, and probably meaning, 

1 East of the Dead Sea were gathered the sect of the Elkesaites — another 
heretical sect, taking their name from Si, their title for the Holy Ghost, 
which was also given to their sacred book. They practised many Mosaic 
and Essene rites, and worshipped Christ as the Son of God ; Epiphanius, 
Har. xix., xxx., liii.; Eusebius, H.E. vi. 38; Theodoret, Fabularum Hare- 
ticarum, vii. 

3 Eusebius, H.E. vi. 19. * Ibid. vi. 20, 33, 37. 

* Ibid. vi. 34 ; cf. Uhlhorn, Herz. Real Encyc. xi. pp. 613 ff.; cf. Wadd. 207 1 ff. 

* Decius, 249-251 A.D. ; Diocletian began persecution in 303. 

* Wadd. 2362. Wadd. 2465, Ew. 82, has the monogram J*, 



Hauran and its Cities 633 



' Christ born of Mary ; ' 1 a possible allusion to Mary 
herself, masked in heathen terms, Tiorvta Nu/a^t? ; 2 above 
all, many bits of basalt with the words, or syllables 
of the words, Martyr and Martyrs' Monument. 3 These 
latter meet you in almost every village, rendering its very 
dust dear to your Christian heart. Even the nomads 
raised monuments to the martyrs. 4 One longer inscrip- 
tion runs : 1 For the Repose of the Martyrs who have 
fallen asleep;' 5 it reminds us of Stephen. The erection of 
such memorials proves a day in which Christianity was able 
to show itself in public, and there are others that record 
its gradual triumph over paganism. Amid the names 
of Zeus, Athene, Du Sara, Allat, which still Triumph of 
stamp the ruins, you read that of our Lord Chnst 
carven with equal boldness in the face of the sun, as 
thus— 

or a proclamation of the 'One God ;' 6 or the triumphant 
words — 7 

+ XPI2 + TOS NIKA + 
On these follow longer inscriptions : prayers, dedications, 
quotations from Scripture, epitaphs. At Umm el Jemal : 
' Prayer of Numerianus (and) John — From the womb of 
(our) mother our God art thou ; forsake us not' 8 At 
Salkhat, in wretched Greek, scribbled in an obscure 
chamber, 'Aouos, Moses, for the forgiveness of sins.' 9 In 

1 XptaTos £k Mdpias yewqdels, Wadd. 1 936, 2145. 3 Wadd. 2145. 

8 Maprvpiov. As these ' martyries ' were used as chapels, and many 
churches contained martyries, the words ixK\r)oia and fiapripiov are sons*' 
times used by early ecclesiastical writers as equivalent. 

* e.g. Wadd. 2464, where the Maprvpiov was raised by a Phylarch. 
B rijs 6.vairav<ri(as tQv KeKOL^vuiv Maprvpcov, Wadd. 1920. 

• Etj 6 . . Wadd. 2057, cf. 2066. 7 Wadd. 2253. 
Ps. xxi. II : Wndd. 2068. 9 Wadd. 2010. 



634 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



several places, ' Help, O Christ' On the lintel of a house 
at Tuffas : 'Jesus Christ be the shelter and defence of all 
the family of the house, and bless their incoming and 
their outgoing.' 1 Sometimes the intercession of the saints 
is sought, as at Sahwet El Khudr, in the Chapel of St. 
George: 'Holy George, receive: also Scholasticius, the 
offerer, do thou guard by thy prayers, and for Comes, his 
brother, ask repose.' 2 It is remarkable that the quota- 
tions from Scripture are from the Old Testament in the 
LXX. version, but sometimes, as in the prayer quoted, 
they are adapted for application to Christ. ' This is the 
gate of the Lord, the righteous shall come in by it.' s 1 If 
the Lord watch not the city, in vain doth the watchman 
keep awake.' 4 On the portal of the Church of St. John, 
now the Great Mosque in Damascus : ' Thy kingdom, 
O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion 
endureth from generation to generation,' 5 

Pagan and Christian inscriptions contrast in two im- 
portant respects. The Pagans parade in every case the 
Contrast of names of the donors, offerers and dedicators. 
Ch?Sian d With a modesty, too strange to the liberality 
inscriptions. Q f the modern Church, the Christian inscrip- 
tions of Hauran nearly always omit the names, as thus : 
' Remember, Lord, the founder, of whom Thou knowest 
the name.' 6 Another, but less clear, contrast is found 

1 As I copied it, the inscription reads a little differently (see Critical 
Review, ii. p. 60) from Schumacher's copy, Across the Jordan, p. 21. The 
quotations are from the Psalms : Ps. iii. 4 ; cxxi. Cf. Wadd. 2068, 2537. 

3 Wadd. 1981, cf. 2126. 3 Ps. cxviii. 20; Wadd. 1961. 

4 Ps. cxxvii. 6; Wadd. 2390, cf. 2501. 

6 The unused portal above the roof of the silversmiths' bazaar. The verse 
is from Psalm cxlv. 

6 Wadd. 2087, etc. Cf. the inscription on the font at Bethlehem. But 
see 2249 for an instance of the name being given. 



Hauran and its Cities 



635 



among the tombs. The heathen epitaphs, whether in 
Decapolis or Hauran, are mostly without hope. The 
Romans, in lawyer-like form, record only the name, the 
rank, the age of the dead, and how the tomb was built. 1 
The Greeks indulge in sentiment and reflec- 

Epitaphs. 

tion ; their hope is very ambiguous. ' After 
all things a tomb ' is inscribed on the lintel of a tomb at 
Irbid. 2 Kal Even thou, is a common memento mori. 
The Greek heart breaks on the stone ; the farewell seems 
final. ' Thou hast finished ' is a common epitaph. ' Titus, 
son of Malchus, farewell, thou hast finished untimely, 
(thy) years twelve, farewell ! ' 3 Or the dead are told that 
theirs is the inevitable fate, there is nobody deathless. ' Be 
of cheer, Helen, dear child, no one is deathless. I have 
laid thee beside thy mother, Gavaia. . . .' 4 This ovSefc 
aOdvaros is very common. Perhaps its most striking 
appearance is on a tomb on the Mount of Olives, over 
against the Church of the Resurrection. 6 It even occurs 
on Christian tombs, and indeed upon the latter there is 
neither exultation expressed, nor the vision of another life. 
Yet a quiet confidence reigns. The dead are spoken of as 
• they that, sleep ; ' the living pray for their repose, or offer 

1 See the inscription we discovered at Gadara, p. 461 of this volume. 

2 Merrill {East of Jordan, 293) reads Merd Udvra T(oOro); Clermont-Ganneau 
{Recueil, etc., 17) reads T(d0os). The latter is correct ; my copy shows a as 
the second letter of the word ; but see Additional Notes to Fourth Edition. 

3 On a pillar now in a stable in Gadara. Critical Review , ii. 61 ; cf. Cler- 
mont-Ganneau, Recueil, p. 21. But see Additional Notes to Fourth Edition. 

4 Wadd. 2032, cf. 1986 ; i-rravcreTo Avdos. But 2247 {a/ma deois) and 2322 
express hope. Cf. also 2432, Ewing, 112. 

6 Wadd. 1897, cf. 2429. There is a beautiful epitaph given by Wadd. 2322: 
Ttj/oi £x« <re, uaxap, iroXvrjpare, 8ie Sa.jStj'e 

Kai f)7S ws rfpios Kat v£kvs ovk eyfrov. 
f65as 5' ws £ri (nrd devdpeai aois £v rtf/n(/S<wf) 

4/vxa.i y&J> f&ffLV r&v ayav evo-ejSaltdy, 



636 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



a prayer for themselves, as : ' May the soul of Gerontius 
be saved.' 1 

Other notable expressions of faith and feeling are : ' O 
Christ, our God ;' 1 The Peace of Christ be to all ; ' 1 Peace 
be to ail men + the Holy Catholic Church of the Lord.' 2 

The Church of Eastern Palestine was organised in the 
second and third centuries, for in the beginning of the 
Dioceses of fourth its bishops and metropolitans were 
the Church. many> as is witnessed by the Acts of the 
Councils of Nice and Chalcedon. At the former Damascus 
had a metropolitan with seven suffragans. Bosra was the 
ecclesiastical, as well as the civil, metropolis of Hauran. 
The diocese had its own theology, as we have seen, in 
Origen's time, and its synods. The town was a great 
centre of trade, only second in importance to Damascus 
— a tradition preserved in its present name of Old 
Damascus. It was full of monks. 

The buildings of the earliest Christianity were destroyed, 
as we have seen, under Diocletian. They were probably 
the martyries, little chapels built over a martyr's grave. 

After the victory over paganism the first 

and other churches were the basilicas of the Antonines 

buildings. other emperors, and then imitations of 

these. But during the fourth and fifth centuries there 
developed the style known as Byzantine, — the dome 
above the square chamber. The two finest churches 
were that of St. George at Zorava, of date 514, 3 and the 
cathedral at Bosra of 512. St George's Church consists 



1 Wadd. 2492. 3 Wadd. 2500, 2061,-2519. 

* Probably on site of a temple to Theandrites, Wadd. 2569. The relics 
of St. George appear to have been taken to Zorava in the beginning of the 
6th centurv. Wadd. 2498. 



Hauran and its Cities 



$37 



of two concentric octagons in a square that is crowned 
by drum and cupola ; against the eastern face of the 
exterior octagon is built the choir, terminating in an 
apse ; each angle of the square outside the octagons holds 
a smaller apse ; on the west side there are three portals ; 
on the north and south one each. It is this church which 
bears the famous inscription beginning, ' The assembly of 
demons has become the house of the Lord,' The cathedral 
of Bosra was four-square and crowned by a dome, with a 
longish apse to the east. An inscription in Bosra 1 gives 
a form of the Greek original of church, kvolclkov. 1 The 
Lord's house,' Kvpifc6v t which is as nearly as possible the 
same as the forms used at the other end of Christendom, 
kerk and kirk. 



The latest Christian buildings in Hauran are of the 
middle of the seventh century. In the beginning of that 
century the camel-driver, Mohammed, used, overthrow of 
on his journeys from Arabia, to visit Bosra, Christianit >- 
and it is said that he learned there, from the monk Hariri, 
all he ever knew of Christianity. 2 Mohammed died in 632. 
By 634 the hosts whom his doctrines inspired had overrun 
Hauran, defeated on the Yarmuk the Christian army, and 
by 635 they had taken Damascus. Subsequent to this 
we have only two Christian buildings in Hauran, the 
monastery at Deir Eyoub, with the date 641, 3 and a 
church of St. George at El-Kufr, 652.* The Christianity 
and the Hellenism of the pr-ovince rapidly dwindled to 
the merest fragments of their former selves. 5 The vitality 

1 Wadd. 1920. 3 Yakut i. 64; the Mar&sid i. 425, 441. 

8 Wadd. 2413. 4 Ew. 153, 665 a.d. in Wadd. 1997. 

1 Ewing, 150, seems to describe the building of a church at El-Kufr in 720. 



638 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



of Hauran was blasted. We have no buildings worthy of 
the name from the Mohammedan period ; the structures 
of former days were mutilated and abused ; the theatre 
at Bosra was made a castle ; the cathedrals and churches 
were turned to mosques. Other barbarians have under- 
stood, interpreted, developed the civilisations which they 
conquered, and so did the Arabs themselves in other 
parts of the world. But in the desert-bordering Hauran, 
on which ruder and ruder swarms beat up as the 
centuries went on, there was only abuse, neglect, decay ; 
and the sole conservative elements, which have ensured 
that at least we should have some ruins of the ancient 
days, have been, on the one side, the hardness and weight 
of the Hauran basalt, and, on the other side, the stupid 
and superstitious reverence of the Arabs for inscriptions, 
which they have treasured and employed — generally on 
end, or wrong-side up, — as tombstones, and as charms 
over the doors of their houses. Hauran has continued 
fertile and full of villages down to the present day, but 
the villages have known no security, have sheltered no 
stable populations ; and the land has been scoured by 
nomads. 1 The great towns have become shells in which 
little clans huddle for shelter. In Bosra to-day there are 
not more than forty families. 

The Crusaders made two expeditions to Bosra ; and 
they besieged Damascus. But none of these adventures 
effected anything, and though their coins have been found 
in Hauran, they got no settlement there. 2 

1 See pp. 526-529. • On the Crusaders over Jordan, see p. 537. 



CHAPTER XXX 
DAMASCUS 



For this Chapter consult Maps J. and IL 



DAMASCUS 



AMASCUS — never claimed for Israel and never 



-L^ under a Hebrew prince 1 — lies beyond the limits 
of the Holy Land, and therefore of our present survey. 
But she has always been the goal of all the roads of the 
lands we have traversed, the dream and envy of their 
peoples. We have met her fame everywhere. She has 
seen the rise, felt the effect, and survived the passage of 
all the forces which have strewn Syria with ruins. There 
is not a fallen city we have visited but Damascus was old 
when, it was built, and still flourishes long after it has 
perished. Amid the growth and decay of the races, 
civilisations and religions, which have thronged Syria for 
four thousand years, Damascus has remained the one 
perennially great Syrian city. Before we cease our survey, 
therefore, she demands our homage, with such apprecia- 
tion as we may attempt of the secret of her eternal youth. 
Beyond appreciation we need not go : we have already 
recorded the main facts of her history. 2 

Damascus lies about seventy miles from the sea-board, 
upon the east of Anti-Lebanon, and ciose in to the foot 

1 For an apparent exception see p. 582. 

2 For her roads to the sea, her place between the Mediterranean and the 
far East, see chap. xx. ; for her connection with Israel, chap, xxvii. ; for her 
iclations to Eastern Palestine, chap. xxv. ; for her place in the Decapolis, 
chap, xxviii. ; for her history under Rome and the Nabateans, chap. xxix. 




2 S 



642 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



of the hills. You reach her from Beyrout by a strong 
carriage-road which first climbs over Lebanon into 1 Hollow 
Situation of Syria/ and then by the easy passes of Anti- 
Damascus. L e rj anon crosses into the valley of the Abana, 
with which it issues upon a great plain 2300 feet above 
the sea, and in extent thirty miles by ten. This plain is 
bounded on the west by Hermon, on the north by a low 
eastern offshoot of Anti-Lebanon, on the east by a row 
of extinct volcanoes, on the south by the river Awaj, 
probably the Pharpar, and by another low range of hills 
that shuts off Hauran. 

Like the slopes of Anti-Lebanon behind it, this plain 
would be as desert as all the rest of the country to the 

Euphrates were it not for the river Abana. 

The Abana bursts full born from the heart 
of Anti-Lebanon, runs a course of ten miles in a narrow 
gorge, and from the mouth of this flings itself abroad 
in seven streams. After watering the greater part of 
the plain, it dies away in a large marsh. Over the 
green of this marsh you see from Damascus at sunset 
low purple hills twenty-five miles off. They are the edge 
of the Eastern desert : beyond them there is nothing but 
a rolling waste, and the long ways to Palmyra and 
Baghdad. 

It is an astonishing site for what is said to be the oldest, 
and is certainly the most enduring, city of the world. 
The haven of For it is utterly incapable of defence ; it is 
the desert. rcmo te from the sea and the great natural 
lines of commerce. From the coast of Syria it is doubly 
barred by those ranges of snow-capped mountains whose 
populations enjoy more tempting prospects to the north 
and west. But look east and you understand Damascus, 



Damascus 



643 



You would as soon think of questioning the site of New 
York or of Sydney or of San Francisco, Damascus is 
a great harbour of refuge upon the earliest sea man ever 
learned to navigate. It is because there is nothing but 
desert beyond, or immediately behind this site ; because 
this river, the Abana, instead of wasting her waters on a 
slight extension of the fringe of fertile Syria, saves them in 
her narrow gorge till she can fling them well out upon the 
desert, and there, instead of slowly expending them on 
the doubtful possibilities of a province, lavishes all her 
life at once in the creation of a single great city, and 
straightway dies in face of the desert — it is because of all 
this that Damascus, so remote and so defenceless, has 
endured throughout human history, and must endure. 
Nineveh, Babylon and Memphis easily conquered her — 
she probably preceded them, and she has outlived them. 
She has been twice supplanted — by Antioch, and she 
has seen Antioch decay, by Baghdad, and Baghdad is 
forgotten. She has been many times sacked, and twice 
at least the effective classes of her population have been 
swept into captivity, but this has not broken the chain of 
her history. She was once capital of the world from the 
Atlantic to the Bay of Bengal, 1 but the vast empire 
went from her and the city continued to flourish as before. 
Standing on the utmost edge of fertility, on the shore 
of the much-voyaged desert, Damascus is indispensable 
alike to civilisation and to the nomads. Moreover, she is 
the city of the Mediterranean world, which lies nearest 
to the far East, and Islam has made her the western port 
for Mecca. 

The plain on which Damascus lies is called the Ghutah, 

1 Under the Omeiyade Khalifs in the end of the seventh century. 



644 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Too high to be marshy, the Ghutah is shot all over by the 
cold, rapid waters of the Abana, which do an equal service 
in bringing life, and in carrying away corrup- 

The Ghutah. . 

tion. Verdure springs profusely everywhere. 
As you look down from one of the bare heights to the north 
you see some hundred and fifty square miles of green — 
thronging and billowy as the sea, with the white compact 
city rising from it like an island. There is apparently 
all the lavishness of a virgin forest, but when you get 
down among it you find neither rankness nor jungle. The 
cultivated ground is extensive, most of it in orchards and 
plantations, but there are also flower gardens, parks and 
corn-fields of considerable size — none, however, so spread 
as to disturb the distant impression of close forest. 

It is best to enter Damascus in summer, because then 
everything predisposes you for her charms. You come 
The approach down off the most barren flanks of Anti- 
to Damascus. Le banon. You croS s the plateau of Sahra-ed- 
Dimas, six shadeless miles that stretch themselves, with 
the elasticity of all Syrian plains in haze, till you almost 
fancy you are upon some enchanted ground rolling out 
with you as you travel. But at last the road begins to 
sink, and you come with it into a deep rut, into which all 
the heat and glare of the broad miles behind seems 
to be compressed. The air is still, the rocks blistered, 
the road deep in dust, when suddenly a bank Of foliage 
bursts into view, with a white verandah above it. The 
road turns a corner ; you are in shadow, on a bridge, in 
a breeze. Another turn and you have streams on both 
sides, a burn gurgling through bushes on the left, on the 
right not one stream but one banked over the other, and 
the wind in the poplars above. You break into the 



Da?nascus 



645 



richer valley of the Abana itself. You pass between 
orchards of figs and orchards of apricots. For hedges 
there are the briar rose, and for a canopy the The gorge of 
walnut. Pomegranate blossoms glow through the Abana - 
the shade ; vine-boughs trail across the briar ; a little 
waterfall breaks on the edge of the road. To the left the 
river, thirty feet of dark green water with white curls 
upon it, shoots down a steep, smooth bed. And all this 
water and leafage are so lavish that the broken mud-walls 
and slovenly houses have no power to vex the eye, exult- 
ing in the contrast of the valley with the bare brown hills 
that shut it in. For two miles more you ride between 
trees, through a village, over a bridge, between high banks 
of gardens — road and river together, flecked with light. 
You come between two streams, one washing the roots of 
aged fig-trees, past a quarry where the desert sinks in cliff 
upon the road, beside an old aqueduct whose Roman 
masonry trails with brambles. The gorge narrows, there 
is room only for the aqueduct and river, with the road 
between, but just as the clifT comes near enough to over- 
hang the road the hills turn sharply away, and the relieved 
river slackens and sprawls between islands. We are out 
on the plain ; there are gardens and meadows ; men and 
boys, horses, asses and geese loaf. upon the grass and the 
shingle ; great orchards, with many busy people gathering 
apricots, stretch on either side. Still, there is no city 
visible. A mile more of orchards, then through the 
walnuts a crescent gleams, and the minaret it crowns. 
You come out on a grassy level, cut by the river into two 
parks. There is a five-arched bridge across it, and over 
the bridge minarets and low white domes. You pass 
some public gardens,, cross the river, ride between it and 



646 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



another garden with lofty trees, and halt in a great square, 
with the serai, the courts of justice, the prison, and the 
barracks of the principal garrison of Syria. The river 
has disappeared under the square by three tunnels, from 
which it passes in lesser conduits and pipes to every house 
and court in the city. By the northern walls a branch 
breaks again into the open ; here the chiefest gardens are 
spread beneath walnuts and poplars, and the water rushes 
by them swift and cold from its confinement. 

With the long gardens of Damascus, the paradise of the 
Arab world, you must take the Bazaars of Damascus, in 

The bazaars which many other worlds meet the Arab. 

of Damascus. Travellers, it is true, are often disappointed with 
both gardens and bazaars. It is not to be expected that we 
Westerns should feel the charm of the waters of Damascus 
as the desert Bedawee does. But if any one confesses 
the bazaars dull, he has neither eye for colour nor wit to 
read the city's destiny in the faces she has gathered to 
them from Nubia to the Caucasus. It is a perpetual 
banquet of colour. There are blots upon it — Manchester 
prints, cheap Paris clocks, second-hand carriages from 
Beyrout, the dusty streets themselves, where they break 
into the open glare. But in the long dusk tunnels, shot 
by solid shafts of light, all else is beautiful — the old 
walnut-wood, the brown tobacco bales, the carpets, the 
spotted brown scones in the bakers' shops, the tawny 
sweetmeats, the golden Hauran wheat, the piles of green 
melons, the tables of snow from Hermon, the armour and 
rich saddle-bags, the human dresses, but especially the 
human flesh— the pallid townsman, the mahogany fellah, 
the Druze with mountain blood in his cheek, the grey Jew, 
the black and blue-black negroes. Besides Turk and 



Damascus 



647 



Hebrew, the great racial types are three : the Bedawee 
Arab, the Greek, and the Kurd. They are the token of 
how Damascus lies between the Desert, the Levant, and 
that other region of the world to which we are so apt to 
forget that Syria has any avenue — the highlands of 
Armenia. Saladin, her greatest Sultan, was a Kurd : the 
Kurd sheep-masters every year send their flocks for sale 
to the Lebanons, and Kurdish cavalry have always formed 
the most vigorous part of the Damascus garrison. # 

But even the Bazaars of Damascus fail to exhaust the 
significance of the city. To gather more of this you must 
come out upon the three great roads which go The three 
forth from her—west, south, and east. The s reatroads - 
western, or south-western, road travels by Galilee to the 
Levant and the Nile. The southern, which leaves the city 
by the ' Gates of God/ takes the pilgrims to Mecca. The 
eastern is the road to Baghdad. Egypt, Arabia, Persia, — 
this city of the Khalifs lies in the midst of the three, and 
the Mediterranean is behind her. 

As for her relations to Syria, Damascus never had in these 
but one rival, and this only so long as a European power 
ruled in the East. Antioch was the creation of Damascus 
the Greeks (330 B.C.), the capital of the Seleucid and Antioch 
dynasty, the residence of the Roman Legate in Syria, 
and the centre of Eastern Christianity. During the 
thousand years of European supremacy Damascus fell 
second to Antioch, and her history is obscure. But so 
soon as the Moslem came (they took Damascus in 634, 
Antioch in 635), the city on the Desert rose again to the 
first rank, the city on the Levant began to decline. For 
one hundred years, 650 to 750, Damascus had the 
Khalifate under the Omayades ; and once for all she was 



648 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



bound to Mecca itself by the Hajj. Under Arab rule 
Damascus has even absorbed the Christian fame of Antioch, 
for though the Patriarch still takes his title from Antioch, 
he resides in Damascus. The fortunes of the two cities 
during the Crusades reflect the same relations. The 
European forces made Antioch their centre, but they never 
took Damascus. 

In the history of religion, Damascus was the stage of 
two great crises. She was the scene of the conversion of 
the first apostle of Christianity to the Gentiles : 

Religious 

significance she was the first Christian city to be taken by 

of Damascus. _ , _ _ , _ t . . . . 

Islam. It was fit that Paul s conversion, with 
his first sense of a mission to the Gentiles, should not 
take place till his journey had brought him to Gentile 
soil. The great cathedral, which rose on the ruins of 
the heathen temple, was dedicated not to Paul but to 
John the Baptist. When the Moslem took Damascus in 
634 this Church was divided between Mohammedans and 
Christians. Seventy years later it was absorbed by the con- 
querors, and was rebuilt to become one of the greatest, if 
not the richest, of the mosques of Islam. The rebuilding 
destroyed all the Christian features, except that which, 
still above the south portal, preserves this prayer and 
prophecy : Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting king- 
dom, and Thy dominion endureth for all generations. 



APPENDICES 

L Some Geographical Passages and Terms of the 
Old Testament. 

II. Stade's Theory of Israel's Invasion of Western 
Palestine. 

III. The Wars against Sihon and Oa 

IV. The Bibliography of Eastern Palestine. 
V. Roads and Wheeled Vehicles in Syria, 



APPENDIX I 

SOME GEOGRAPHICAL PASSAGES AND TERMS IN THE 
OLD TESTAMENT 

Reference is made on p. 52 to several passages in the Old 
Testament which catalogue the chief physical features of 
Palestine. 

(a) The earliest of these seems to be Judges i. 9. Looking 
west from the hills above Jericho the writer describes the tribe 
of Judah as going down to fight the Canaanites who dwelt on the 
Mounts the Negeb, and the Shephelah. In his masterly examina- 
tion of the Book of Judges, Budde (Bucher Richter u. Samuel) 
argues that this verse does not belong to the original Jahvist 
narrative on the ground that it contradicts ver. 19, Judah pos- 
sessed the Mount, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the 
Valley, because they had chariots of iron. But, in the first place, 
ver. 9 only says that Judah went down to attack the Canaanites 
in the Mount, the Negeb, and the Shephelah, while ver. 19 deals 
with the result of that attack, viz., that it was successful only 
so far as the mountainous territory was concerned. Secondly, 
Budde seems to take Shephelah and 'Ernek or Valley as the 
same thing. But Shephelah is the name of a well-defined 
region, the low hills between Philistia and the Judasan range, 
and including both hill and vale. 'Emek, on the other hand, is 
a kind of land — valley or plain-land, as distinct from hilly 
country. I see no reason, therefore, for separating ver. 9 from 
the section in which it occurs. Note, too, that it is said Judah 
went down to the Mount, etc., which can only mean that in the 
mind of the writer this tribe did not depart on its separate path 
of conquest from the rest of Israel till after Israel had reached 
the crest of the Central Range. 

651 



652 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



The rest of the passages form a group in which it is possible 
to identify one hand, or, at least, one style, that of the 
Deuteronomist. 

(b) In Deut. i. 7 Israel are ordered to take their journey to 
the Mount of the Amorite, that is, the Central Range, as repre- 
sentative of the whole land, and to all his neighbours. Then 
the main features of the country are given as from the Jordan 
westward — in the l Arabah, or Jordan Valley, in the Mount, or 
the Central Range itself, in the Shephelah, in the Negeb, and on 
the Coast of the Sea — the land of the Canaanite. Lebanon is then 
added, and all the country north to the great river, the river 
Euphrates, for that was the ideal border of the Promised Land. 

(c) In Josh. x. 40 all the La?id, as far as it was conquered by 
Joshua, and therefore exclusive of the Maritime Plain, is denned 
as The Mount, and the Negeb, and the Shephelah, and the Slopes 
(Eng. Ver., springs). 

(d.) In Josh. xi. 16 this is given more fully as the Mount, and 
all the Negeb, and all the Land of Goshen~a.11 unknown quantity 
extending from Gibeon (Josh. x. 41; cf. xv. 51) southwards 
across Judah, and out upon the Negeb, and to be distinguished 
from that land of Goshen where Israel was settled in Egypt — and 
the Shephelah, and the l Arabah, and the Mount of Israel — that is, 
the Central Range within the limits of the northern kingdom of 
Israel — and its Shephelah, probably the district of lower and 
more open hills between the hills of Samaria and Carmel, which 
present so many resemblances to the Shephelah opposite Judah. 
No other interpretation seems feasible ; but, if it be correct, then 
the date of the passage can only be after the kingdom of Israel 
was separated from Judah. 

(e) In Josh. xii. 8 we find The Mountain, the Shephelah, the 
Arab ah. the Slopes, the Desert — on the skirts of the land — and 
the Negeo. The Mountain or Central Range was named in its 
various portions. The Mountain — English version, hill-country — 
of Judah or Judo?,a, x the Mountain of Ephraim, 2 or (as we have 
seen) of Israel, or, in the plural, the Mountains of Samaria, for 
the range : s scattered here; and in Galilee, the Mountain oj 
Naphtalu 

x Luke. ' Authorised Version, Mount Ephraim. 



Appendix I 



653 



All these refer to Western Palestine. The divisions and names 
of Eastern Palestine are given in chap. xxv. As in the west, 
we have mount applied to the hills of Moab ; mountains oj 
'Abarim, to Gilead and to Bashan. There is, besides, Mishor, 
applied to the level plateau of Moab (Siegfried-Stade, Hand- 
wb'rterbuch, refer it in 1 Chron. xxvi. 10 to the Jordan Valley, but 
incorrectly). 

A few more words are necessary on some of the geographical 
terms of the Old Testament. For hills or heights the Hebrews 
had the following words : "in Har, applied either, as we have 
seen, to a whole range, or hill-country (in this case also used in 
the plural), or to a single great hill like Hor (Num. xx. 22), or 
to smaller hills like the citadel of Jerusalem (Isa. xxii. 5) or 
Samaria. LXX., mostly 6pos and opzivq. njDJ Gibe'ah, is ' hill? 
properly as distinguished from mountain in, but also interchange- 
able sometimes with the latter, Isa. xl. 4 ; Job xv. 7 ; Prov. viii. 
25. Like "in of Mount Zion, Isa. x. 32; Ezek. xxxiv. 26. But 
it is never like "in used of a mountain range or hill-country. On 
the other hand, in Song of Solomon iv. 6, it may be used of an 
artificial high place. LXX. nearly uniformly fiovvos. 

Bamah, on the other hand, is in the singular used only 
of artificial high places ; but once or twice in the plural is meant 
to be natural heights {e.g. Micah i. 3; Jer. xxvi. 18; Ezek. 
xxxvi. 2 \ cf. 2 Sam. i. 19, 25). 

^B'y 'Ophel=swell, bank, or mound; as a common noun it is 
used only for tumours on the body (cf,. tumulus, from lumeo) ; 
as a name with the article (except Isa. xxxii. 14 ; Micah iv. 8) 
it was given to the rising ground south-east of the Temple, 
cf. 2 Kings v. 24 ; Neh. iii. 26, etc. ; also to a part of Samaria, 
2 Kings v. 24; also to a part of Dibon, on line 22 of the 
Moabite Stone. 

nll^'K Ashedoth, as we have seen, are certainly slopes ; and 
so with rrii>D2 as in nhfi "p, Josh xix. 12; cf. Josh. xix. 18, 
Modern Iksal. IV §adh = side, 1 Sam. xxiii. 26 ; 2 Sam. xiii. 34; 
13y Jarcah = thigh, Judges xix. i. 18, etc. ; y& Sel ( a = rib, 2 Sam. 



654 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



xvi. 13; 05^' Shechem=back, Gen. xlviii. 22, ^n3 Chatheph = 
shoulder, Josh. xv. 8, 10; xviii. 10, of hills, but also to the sea 
coast of Philistia as rising from the sea, Isa. xi. 14; $2>so Rosh, 
Arabic, Ras = headland, foreland, or summit; and even rrt3W 
'Aznoth = ears ; "inn riWN Josh. xix. 34, though it is impossible 
to say to what exactly this refers. pj? Keren = horn. 

^ Shephi is a bare hill ; naj Naphah is elevation, raised 
land, only in Naphath Dor, the rise of Carmel behind Dor; 
Sv\ Tel (in composition Tell = Arabic, Tell) is the mound com- 
posed of rubbish on which a village often stands, Josh. xi. 13; 
Jer. xxx. 18; also the heap caused by the overthrow of a city, 
Deut. xiii. 17, etc. As a place-name, it does not seem to have 
occurred in ancient Palestine. The only instances of it in the 
Old Testament refer to Babylonia, Ezek. Hi. 15 ; Ezra ii. 59 ; 
Neh. vii. 61. Other words for a height (geographical) are DilD 
Marom (cf. n»Vi Rumah, a place-name, 2 Kings xxiii. 36, and 
the frequent HEn Ramah) ; lim Misgab, Ps. xviii. 2. A summit 
is sy&n as above, or Isa. xvii. 6. 

rhvp Ma'aleh = ascent, used with many proper names, e.g. 
Akrabbim, or 'the scorpions,' Num. xxxiv. 4; Josh. xv. 3; 
Judges i. 36 ; Adummim, Josh. xv. 7, see p. 265 ; Gur, 2 Kings 
ix. 27, see p. 388 n. ; Ziz, 2 Chron. xx. 16, see p. 272; Luhith 
in Moab, Isa. xv. 5 ; Jer. xlviii. 5 ; Beth-horon, Josh. x. 10 ; cf. 
1 Mace. iii. 16. See also Judges viii. 13. *ni» Morad is the 

opposite, used of the descent from Ai to Jericho, Josh. vii. 5 ; 
of the Beth-horon, Josh. x. 10; 1 Mace. iii. 24; of Horonaim t 
Jer. xlviii. 5=ascent of Luhith. Other words for 'pass' were 
rnayiD (see p. 337) and Nekeb, a common word in 
Arabic, which in the Old Testament is only used as a proper 
name, Josh. xix. 33 ; 3j»n LXX. 'A/o^e, kcu Na/3o/c or 

For Valley there are the following: — On poy f Emek = deep- 
ening, and nyf?2 Bik'ah = opening, see pp. 384 f . ; for 'Emek 
LXX. gives mostly KolXas, also cf>dpay£, ttcSlov, avXiov. Here we 
may add that Elah (1 Sam. xvii. 2, 19), Hebron (Gen. xxxvii. 14), 



Appendix I 



655 



Ajalon (Josh. x. 12; cf. Isa. xxviii. 21), Jezreel (Josh. xvii. 16; 
Judges vi. 33 ; vii. 1 ; Hosea i. 5) are the only places called 
'Emek which are identified past doubt. There were also the 
Vales of Siddim (Gen. xiv. 3, 8); of Rephaim (Josh. xv. 8), 
probably the vale to south-east of Jerusalem ; of Achor (Josh, 
vii. 24), probably one of the passes from Jordan into Benjamin ; 
Shaveh (Gen. xiv. 17); Keziz (Josh, xviii. 21); Beth-rehob 
(Judges xviii. 28), probably the north end of the Jordan Vale ; 
Berachah (2 Chron. xx. 26) ; Baca (Ps. Ixxxiv. 6) ; Succoth 
(Ps. lx. 6 ; cviii. 7), again part of the Jordan Valley ; Jehosha- 
phat (Joel iii. 2, 12; cf. v. 14). Like nyp3, pop is applied to 
all parts of the Jordan Valley (Josh, xiii, 27 ; perhaps xviii. 28; 
Ps. lx. 6). But unlike npps it is never extended to any plain 
so wide as that of the Euphrates, or like the central triangle of 
Esdraelon (see p. 385). And like nypn it is used generically for 
level valley-land, either ager t land that can be ploughed (Job 
xxxix. 10; Ps. lxv. 14, Heb.) or campus, ground fit for military 
manoeuvres (Job xxxix. 21 ; Josh. xvii. 16). Hence its extension 
was natural to the whole Philistine plain (Jer. xlvii. 5). On 
nyp3 see p. 385. It is applied to broad plains like Esdraelon, 
or that of the Jordan under Hermon (Josh. xi. 17 ; xii. 7), 
or at Jericho (Deut. xxxiv. 3), and even to the valley of the 
Euphrates (Ezek. iii. 22 ; xxxviii. 1 ; Gen. xi. 2), and even to 
the Maritime Plain. The LXX. render it by ttcSiov. The Arabic 
equivalent to-day is the name of the vale between the Lebanons, 
as well as of some other level tracts surrounded by hills. For 
example, the Beka, |, or Bukei'a, <uJLx! \, a plain on the 
Belka', to the east of Salt, which we crossed in 1891 from the 
Jabbok. It is a high secluded vale, about four miles by three, 
with mountains all round it. Also the Bukei'a, east of Shechem, 
and the Bukei'a, in Judah, above the north end of the Dead Sea. 
A surrounding of hills seems necessary to the name Bik'ah, as if 
land laid open in the midst of hills. 

or *| Gai (once fcM Isa. xl. 4; and an Zech. xiv. 4) is 
nearer our word glen than valley. It is generally used for nar- 
rower openings than nyp3 or pay. Identified sites to which it was 
applied are the following : one of the gorges descending from the 
Moab plateau (Num. xxi. 20, Deut. iii. 2g, etc.) ; the valley of 



656 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Hinnom, Josh. xv. 8, etc., etc.; the valley of Jiphthah-el, Josh. xix. 
14, 27, perhaps the Wady-el-Kurn in Galilee. In Ps. xxiii. 4 it 
is used evidently of a narrow ravine, in Zech. xiv. 14 of a sudden 
rent or cleft through a hill. In 1 Sam. xvii. 3 it is perhaps the 
ditch of the stream which flows through the 'Emek (see p. 228), 
LXX. <f>dpay£ (usually) avXuv, KotAas, va.7rr], or transliterated yrj. 

Other words are n)W Shaveh, or level, English dale, Gen. xiv. 
5, in Moab a proper name ; Gen. xiv. 7, — rfem rfejp Mesulah 
Mes61ah=a deep, but only once of a valley bottom, n^vp Mesullah, 
Zech. i. 8. nns s ravine or abyss (2 Sam. xviii. 17; cf. Ezra. ii. 6, 
etc. ; Neh. vii. n). (see below) used both of a stream and 

the valley through which it flows. 

For Plains, besides pDy and nyp3, there is TiK^D Mish6r= 
level, generally of the table-land, especially of Moab (Deut. hi. 
10 ; Josh. xiii. 9, 16 ; Jer. xlviii. 21, see p. 548), bat also of Bashan 
(1 Kings xx. 23-35). ^ n 2 Chron. xxvi. 10 it is referred by some 
(e.g. Siegfried-Stade, Handworterbuch) to the Jordan Plain, but 
even there it may be Moab. In Zech. iv. 7 it is opposed to "in. 
From the same root is \cw Sharon, but always as a proper name, 
and except in 1 Chron. v. 16, where it refers to a region, east of 
Jordan (cf. Neub. Geog. du Talmud, 47) always of the Maritime 
Plain from Carmel to Joppa (see p. 147 f.). LXX. fynyxos (Isa. 
lxv. 10, etc.; and ir&iov (Song ii. 1; 1 Chron. xxvii. 29). On 
not plain, but low 'hills (see fully, p. 201 ff.). Also tatf Abel, a 
meadow always in composition, Abel-beth-maacah (1 Kings xv. 
20, etc.) or Abel-maim, 2 Chron. xvi. 4, perhaps the present Abil- 
el-Kamh (Rob. L.R.) ; Abel-ha-Shittim (of the acacias, Num. 
xxxiii. 49) opposite Jericho ; Abel-meholah (of the dance or the 
whirls (?), see p. 581 n. 9); Abel-keramim (of vineyards, Judges 
xi. 33); Abel-misraim (of Egypt, Gen. 1. 11). In 1 Sam. vi. 18 
read pK for !?3K- For rnb field, see p. 79 f. "13 a watered field, 
Isa. xxx. 23. -133, p. 505. M>3, p. 413. 

On (German Trifi from treiben) from "131 to drive (i.e. 
herds to pasture) according to Jer. xxv. 24 =: land not sown. 
The English version renders it wilderness, or sometimes desert. 
It is properly land roamed by nomads in opposition to land 



Appendix I 



657 



occupied by the settled tillers of the soil, nmy 'Ara bah = desert- 
steppe, is used generally as parallel to Midbar (Isa. xxxvi. 6, etc.; 
Zech. xiv. 10, etc.). It is from the same root as Arabia and Arab. 
But as a proper name with the definite article it is generally 
confined to the Jordan Valley. Deut. ii. 8, etc., etc. (see p. 484). 
pft^ Jeshimon, devastation, is a still stronger word. See p. 312, 
for its application to the wilderness of Judah. In a general 
signification, Deut. xxxii. 10; Isa. xliii. 19, 20; Ps. lxviii. 7, etc. 

For River, the most comprehensive is nru stream, Ger. 
Fiuss, used for a river (Gen. ii. 10; Job xl. 23), but also of smaller 
streams and even of artificial ones, canals (Ex. viii. 1 ; Ezek. 
xxxi. 4 ; Ps. cxxxvii. 1). The River, "iron =the Euphrates, Gen, 
xxxi. 2i, etc., etc., but in Isa. xix. 5 singular, ver. 6 plural, the Nile. 
The Naharaim of Aram-Naharaim are probably the Euphrates 
and Chabiras (Z.A.T. iii. 307 f., Budde Urgeschichte^ 445 f.). 
"im is also used of the sea, and in the plural of its currents or 
tides (?), Ps. lxvi. 6, xxiv. 2 (but here probably of the great deep 
under the earth.) 

$>rw Nahal = Arabic Wady, Greek x^W 00 ^ Ital. fiumdra^ 
a winter-torrent and the valley through which it flows (e,g. 
cf. 1 Kings xvii. 3, hide in Nahal Kherith and ver. 4, drink of the. 
Nahat). Identified valleys of this kind to which it is applied in the 
Old Testament, are Kedron, 2 Sam. xv. 23 ; El-Arish, the river of 
Egypt, Num. xxxiv. 5; Josh. xv. 4, etc.; Eshcol, Num. xiii. 23, etc.; 
Kanah, the present W. Kaneh, Josh. xvi. 8 ; Sorek W. es Surar, 
Judges xvi. 4; Gerar, perhaps Wady Kibab, Gen. xxvi. 17, cf. 1 
Sam. xv. 5. But ^ftt is also used for large perennial streams like 
Arnon (Num. xxi. 14 ; Deut. ii. 24, iii. 8), Jabbok (Gen. xxxii. 
23 ; Deut. ii. 37). Other D^m not identified are Zared (see 
p. 557). Besor in north of Judah (1 Sam. xxx. 9, 10, 21) ; Gaash 
in Mount Ephraim (Josh. xxiv. 30 ; Judges ii. 9, etc.; 2 Sam. xxiii. 
30; 1 Chron. xi. 32) ; Cherith (see p. 580) ; Gad (2 Sam. xxiv. 5); 
Shittim (Joel iii. 18). A perennial stream is \TV\& fm LXX. 
generally translates by x<zi}xappoo$, even of Arnon and Jabbok ; 
but also by <f>dpayg of Kishon (Josh. xix. n); Arnon (Deut. ii. 
24); Eshcol (Num. xiii. 23); and by7rora/*os of El-Arish, 1 Kings 
viii. 65 ; by va7rcu, Num. xxvi. 6. 

2 T 



658 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



""rifcO Ye'6r=the Nile, Gen. xli.1-3, etc.; plural, — Nile-canals, Ex. 
viii. 1 ; Isa. vii. 18 ; Nahum. iii. 8; canals in general, Isa. xxxiii. 
21 ; river in general, Dan. xii. 5-7. LXX. Trorafxos, except in Isa. 
xxxiii. 21, Siupvxes, xxxvii. 25 ((rvvaywyrjv i'Saros). *NrP5J> or 
"rin$ or ihw is parallel to "lix'' for the Nile, Isa. xxiii. 3 ; cf. Jer. 
ii. 18. In Josh. xiii. 3 it is either the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, 
or the Wady el Arish. 

jj>B Peleg is the Arabic Faleeg (cf. irkXayo^. fluctus) — stream, 
Judges v. 15, 16 ; Ps. i. 3 ; xlvi. 4 ; Ixv. 9, etc. taiK = river, 
Dan. viii. 2, 3, 6. So also knv, Jer. xvii. 8. (The text of 
2 Sam. xvii. 20 is corrupt.) A canal or conduit is n^JJfl Te'alah 
= bringing up (of Elijah's trench, 1 Kings xviii. 32, etc.; of 
Jerusalem conduits, 2 Kings xviii. 17; xx. 20; Isa. vii. 3), or vby) 
Shelah== (water) shoot, Neh. iii. 15. p^Btf is river-bed, Ps. xviii. 
16; stream, Ps. cxxvi. 4 ; Wadi, Ezek, vi. 3. T hand= river-side, 
as we say Dee-side, Deut. ii. 37. TID^ = lip, is bank or brink, 
Josh. xi. 4, etc.; nvp = end, is either the mouth of a river, Josh. xv. 
5 ; xviii. 19, or the edge of its waters, Josh. iii. 8, 1 5 ; Tftll = banks, 
Josh. iii. 15, etc. Spates or floods are DWp (probably, see 
p. 395); P]t05£> (Ps. xxxii. 6, etc.); vbbW (Isa. xxvii. 12: cf. Judges 
xii.) ; and perhaps D")T» though this is rather the burst of rain that 
makes the flood. nHK>'D= breaker, was originally billow, 2 Sam. 
xxii. 5 ; Jonah ii. 3 ; but in Ps. xlii. 7 it may be cataract. ^2 
parallel to it in Jonah ii. 5 = heap or mass of water. ^nt3n = The 
Deluge. 

On Wells and Springs (see pp. 77 fif.). Besides ))y and 1X3 there 
a re }TO a collective of \)V, cf. Josh. xv. 9, etc. ; n)V N¥iD fountain- 
head (Ps. cvii. 33, 35, etc., cf. Ras el 'Ain, p. 77). "vipE poetical 
word for a spring that has been dug, Jer. Ii. 36, etc.; Jfta© pro- 
bably = gushing, Isa. xxxv. 7; xlix. 10; h^J bubbling springs, 
Josh. xv. 19; Judges i. 15. T&l or "via is a dry IKSl, cf. Gen. 
jixxvii. 20 ; but also used for water, Jer. vi. 7, etc. 

Cisterns, Lakes, Pools, and Ponds. — For Gennesaret and 



Appendix / 659 

the Dead Sea the word is = sea ; a bay of this is p,ij6 = tongue 
or pap (or harbour, see p. 132) ; its bed JJjTlj? Amos ix. 3 ; ft^a 
is a pool or tank, 2 Sam. ii. 13, etc.; nij5p a reservoir, Isa. xxii. 1 1 ; 
Ditf a pond of standing water, Ps. cvii. 35, etc.; na = ditch, 2 
Kings iii. 16; Isa. xxx. 14. 



APPENDIX II 
(See p. 274) 

Stade's theory of Israel's invasion of Western Palestine 
will be foui)d in vol. i. pp. 133, 141 of his Geschichte des Volkes 
Israel. It may bewilder the reader at first that it should be 
necessary to seek, as Stade does, a theory so utterly different 
from the biblical account, but Stade has evidently felt himself 
compelled to this by his unwillingness to attribute to Israel any 
but the most physical of impulses in crossing Jordan, and by his 
belief that the Israelites could never have overcome the Canaan- 
ites in war. We shall see how far justified, how far possible 
of proof, are both of these presuppositions. After the death of 
Moses (this is Stade's theory) Israel continued to reside on the 
east of the Jordan for a very long time, during which they passed 
from the nomadic to the agricultural stage, and consequently in- 
creased much in numbers. Eastern Palestine became too small for 
them, and separate clans were forced to seek new homes across 
the Jordan. About their passage into Western Palestine, Stade 
asserts three things : First, that they did not cross at once as a 
united body, but gradually, clan by clan. Joshua is an entirely 
legendary personage, an Eponymus of Ephraim, one of the clans. 
Second, they crossed peacefully, and won land west of Jordan by 
purchase or treaty, not by war. Third, they crossed not at 
Jericho, for at that time opposite Jericho lay Moaoite, and not 
Israelite, territory, but farther north at Jabbok, where the Israelite 
population east of Jordan was most dense. Such is Stade's theory. 
Its presupposition — that Israel had no impulse to cross Jordan 
except a physical one, no memory of her forefathers' possession 
of the land, no consciousness of national unity, no impetus 



66o The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



derived from the long leadership of Moses, no desire for a 
national territory on surer ground than the east of Jordan 
afforded, nothing but the spilling over of her increasing numbers — 
that is an absolute negative which it is simply impossible to prove, 
even if it were not opposed, as it is, to the entire body of Israelite 
tradition, and inconsistent with Israel's subsequent history. Is 
it possible that so ancient (for it is found in the earliest poems), 
so widespread (for it occurs in every source) a tradition, as that 
Israel was conscious of her unity and her leadership by Jehovah 
in crossing Jordan, can be wrong? Is it possible that Israel, 
which became what she did, had not already (especially after all 
Moses did and taught) some sense of her national destiny, and 
was not left to the mere unconscious drift of an increasing 
population ? But to go on from this presupposition, which I think 
groundless, to the three points deduced from it. First, that the 
passage of Jordan was gradual, clans by clans, and that Joshua 
was no real person. Stade bases his assertion that Joshua is 
merely the personification of the clan Ephraim on the statement 
that he is known to only one of the documents, the Ephraimite 
E. But Kuenen (Onderzoek, sec. ed. § 13), Dillmann (in his 
commentary), and Budde (Z.A.T. W. vii. 133 ; Ri. u. Sam.) have 
all shown that Joshua was known also to the Judsean source J — 
a fact of which Kittel rightly says, that 4 it can hardly be doubted' 
(Gesch. i. 248). But if there be no reason to doubt that Joshua 
was real, then we have a personal centre for the whole people 
while crossing the Jordan and settling upon Western Palestine, 
only less strong than that round which they had previously been 
kept united, viz. Moses. Second, Stade supposes that Israel's 
occupation of the land was peaceful. In Western Palestine there 
was much forest-land unoccupied on the hills. Part of this the 
Canaanites, who had the towns and the valley-land, gladly sold 
or gave away to various Israelite clans, in order to prevent 
Israel's military seizure of land (the possibility of which, observe, 
Stade admits). His arguments for this are (a) that the Canaan- 
ites were too strong for Israel to acquire land by force ; (b) 
that the Israelite occupation was only partial and for a long time 
outside the chief houses ; (c) that for a long time Israel lived on 
peaceful relations, intermarriage, etc., with Canaan. But (a) 



Appendix II 



is not true. It is probable (from extra-biblical evidence) that 
Western Palestine at this time was inhabited by tribes that were 
disunited and greatly weakened by previous wars. This was not 
the only time in Syria's history that Arab tribes in the flush of 
their strength and hope defeated the degenerate, though better 
equipped, settled populations. Stade himself admits both that the 
Canaanites submitted to a peaceful occupation only under fear 
of a military one, and that certain tribes of Israel (Dan, Simeon, 
and Levi) did win their land by the sword. Again (b) is admitted 
in the narrative, and is as compatible with a warlike as with a 
peaceful invasion. A partial occupation by war is in harmony 
with all we know of the methods of Semitic warfare — the fierce 
rush at a territory, and if complete success does not follow, 
exhaustion of energy, acquiescence with what has been gained. 
Nor is (c) incompatible with a military invasion of the kind just 
described. But turning from these reasons to the assertion itself 
— if Stade be right that Israel won parts of Western Palestine 
by treaty and purchase, why is there no trace in the narratives, 
dealing with the time, of such transactions ? Why is the tradi- 
tion of a military conquest so solid ? 

It is in connection with this, and with Stade's Third position, 
that Geography comes in. He holds that Israel could not have 
crossed at Jericho, for Eastern Palestine opposite Jericho was at 
this time not Israelite but Moabite territory. Yet this is by no 
means certain. What we do know is that in later times Eastern 
Palestine opposite Jericho was in Moab's hands ; but this surely 
is a reason against supposing that the tradition of Israel's crossing 
at this place was a late tradition. Stade says that tradition 
merely fixed on the Jordan at Jericho as a likely place; but 
would this have seemed a likely place at a time when the Eastern 
bank was in Moab's hands ? The rise, therefore, of a tradition 
of the passage of the Jordan just here became more and more 
(as I have said, p. 275) improbable as the centuries went on. 
Turning now to Western Palestine, we find the strong geo- 
graphical reasons for the passage at Jericho which I have already 
given (pp. 275 f.). In Western Palestine, as every one admits, 
Israel was divided at first into two parts : the Joseph tribes were 
settled in Mount Ephraim, and the tribe of Judah on the plateau 



662 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



to the south of Jerusalem, but in between them there were strong 
Canaanite settlements. 1 Now, what other point of entrance 
better corresponds than Jericho does to this disposition of the 
tribes ? Had Israel crossed at Jabbok, it is not easy to see how 
some tribes got into Judah as well as some into Mount Ephraim, 
unless you suppose, with some scholars (so Oort's At/as), that the 
tribe Judah never crossed the Jordan, but came up into its settle- 
ments through the Negeb : a supposition for which there is no 
real evidence. But take the statement of the Book of Joshua (to 
which more than one document contributes) that Israel crossed 
as a whole by Jericho. Then how natural is the subsequent dis- 
position of the tribe — for roads lead up from Jericho equally into 
Mount Ephraim, the plateau of Benjamin, and the centre and 
south of Judaea. Again, the easy capture of Jericho is a fact 
which all the subsequent history of the town renders probable. 
As we have seen (pp. 267 f.), Jericho never once stood a siege. 
Finally, the existence of Israel's central camp at Gilgal for a con- 
siderable period, while the hill-country was being subdued 
(Josh. x. 43), receives an interesting proof in suppor 4 - of its 
possibility from the analogous case of the Canaanites who ruled 
the hill-country from Gilgal as a centre (Deut. xi. 30). 



APPENDIX III 

ON THE WARS AGAINST SIHON AND OG 

(See pp. 560 and 575) 

The War against Sihon the king of the Amorites.— 
The unreality of this war, and the reference of the song (Num. 
xxi. 27-30) to an invasion of Moab by Israel in the ninth 
century, have been argued for by Meyer (Z.A.2\W. f 1881, pp. 
118 ff.) ; Stade (Gesch. i. 117 ff.)j and after them Addis {Docu- 
ments of the Hexateuch i. p. 174). Against them Dillmann (in 

1 Although the tribe of Benjamin had already occupied its territory, as 
Kittel lias shown (Gesch. p. i. 265 f.). There is no reason for supposing that 
the tribe Benjamin was not formed till after the settlement of Ephraim. It 
was there from the first, and on the territory which the Book of Joshua 
assigns to it. 



Appendix III 663 



Numbers, etc., 2nd ed. pp. 128 ff.), Kuenen {Onderzoek, i. 13, 
13), Wellhausen (Hist), support the fact of the war. The 
arguments may be summed up as follows : Reasons against the 
nistorical character of the war against Sihon; (1) It is mentioned 
only in E (Num. xxi.) and D (ii. 24 ff. : Judges xii. 13 is, according 
to Budde, an insertion taken directly from E., Richter u. Sam. 
p. 125) ; (2) Neither P nor J says anything about it; but (3) on 
the contrary both represent Sihon's land as if still in possession of 
Moab, or at least with the name of Moab ; e.g. in P there is Num. 
xxii. 1, the Israelites encamped in Arboth-Moab, opposite Jericho, 
and in JE (Num. xxii. 41 ; xxiii. 14, 28) Balak of Moab brings 
Balaam to Bamoth as if it were his own territory. 

To these reasons it may be replied, (1) E is the oldest docu- 
ment ; (2) though neither P nor J mentions the war with Sihon, 
they do not give a story nor any detail inconsistent with the 
occurrence of such a war. For instance, they do not say that 
Israel took the land between Arnon and Jabbok from Moab or 
Ammon, which indeed would have been a contradiction of E. 
On the contrary, the only trace of a war between Moab and 
Israel is a fragment of E's own in Josh. 24, 9 ; (3) though Moab 
had been driven out by Sihon from her proper territory, her name 
would more or less remain attached to it ; so that though the 
place Israel encamped on opposite Jericho was called Arboth- 
Moab, that need not mean that Moab still possessed it. Dill- 
mann, too, points out that Sihon's conquest of Heshbon need 
not be taken to mean that all the Moabites were banished. 
Again, D, which gives the war with Sihon for the land between 
Jabbok and Arnon, nevertheless calls the latter the land of 
Moab (i. 5 ; xxviii. 69 ; xxxiv. 5). 

There can be no objection to the story itself. There is nothing 
incredible in it. If in later centuries all Israel under David, and 
Northern Israel under Omri, crossed Jordan and occupied the 
territory of Moab, the Amorites may well have done the same. 
And, again, there was nothing to be gained by inventing the 
story. 

We come now to the song itself. 

Those who believe that it does not refer to a war on the Amor- 
ites, at Israel's first entrance to the land, but to an invasion of 



664 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Moabite territory from the west of the Jordan, in the ninth century, 
allege that the course of conquest it marks is from north to south, 
the line of the latter invasion, but they have to omit the words, the 
king of the Amorites Sihon in ver. 29, and take Sihon as a king of 
Moab. But against ver. 29// there is no objection, apart from 
the requirements of this theory. Leave it, and interpret the first 
line of conquest traced in the poem (vv. 28, 29) as that of Sihon 
over Moab, and you do not violate the geography. 

To sum up : the theory of Meyer and Stade, that the war with 
Sihon is unhistorical, and that the poem refers to a conquest by 
Israel of Moab in the ninth century, can only be held by 
sacrificing vv. 26 and 29^, against neither of which is there any 
objection apart from this theory; while the story of the war 
against Sihon as told by E is neither improbable in itself, nor 
inconsistent with the data in J and P, nor likely to have been 
invented. 

2. The War with Og, king of Bashan. — This war has not 
the same documentary evidence in its support. In Num. xxi. the 
account of it is an insertion (w. 33 ff.) obviously from the hand 
of a Deuteronomic writer. No characteristic phrases of the 
Deuteronomist occur in it. Nor, except perhaps in three cases, is 
there any mention of this war in the Hexateuch, outside the well 
marked Deuteronomic passages, Num. xxi. 336°.; Deut. i. 4 ; 
iii. ; iv. 47 ; xxix. 7 ; Josh. xii. 4. The doubtful passages are 
Num. xxxii. 33, which is assigned by Kautsch to a late edition ; 
Josh. ix. 10, which Kautsch assigns to JE, but Dillmann 
regards as an insertion, and Josh. xiii. 30, which is probably from 
the Priestly Writing. The passage, 1 Kings iv. 19, is Deutero- 
nomic. The story, therefore, we owe to the Deuteronomist, and 
we have no such reminiscence of it as is left us of the war with 
Sihon in the song. On this account, many who admit Sihon as 
a historical reality, decline so to receive Og. It is one of those 
cases where proof is absolutely impossible ; and we must allow 
that we have not the amount of evidence we had in Sihon's case. 
At the same time Og was indissolubly bound with Sihon in the 
memory and tradition of the people, and it is difficult to see how 
he can have been invented. There is no geographical obstacle 
in the way of a campaign north of the Jabbok. Edrei would be 



Appendix III 



665 



as likely a place for Israel to fight with a king of Bashan as any 
other, while the fact that no battles are mentioned farther north 
towards Damascus, or 011 the east side of the Lake of Galilee, 
where it would have been even easier for the popular memory to 
have invented victories for Moses, is a proof that the tradition 
was restrained by actual historical facts. Critics, who assign to 
Israel a very long residence in the east of Jordan, should be 
ready to admit of such an extension of their conquest north- 
ward by the easiest route to places so attractive as those of 
Bashan, before the crossing of Jordan was attempted. 



APPENDIX IV 

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF EASTERN PALESTINE 

Authorities on the East of the Jordan are as follows (I mark 
those I have not seen by an asterisk) : — Volney, Voyage en Syrie 
etc., 1 783-1 785, 11. (Eng. Ed. 1812); Seetzen's Reisen durch Syrien 
in 1806 ; Burckhardt, Travels in Syria and the Holy Land in 
1810-1812 (London, 1822); Buckingham, Travels in Palestine, 
through the countries of Bashan and Gileadin 1 8 1 6 (London, 1 82 1 ); 
Travels among the Arab tribes east of Syria, etc. (London, 1825) ; 
Irby and Mangles' Travels in Egypt, Syria, etc., 181 7, 181 8 
(London, 1822); *Schubert (and Roth),i?m^ in's Mo rgen land, 18 37 
(the first to discover the great depth of the Dead Sea below the 
Mediterranean); Robinson, Bib. Res, (made in 1838), especially 
vol. ii., containing journey to Petra; Molyneux's 'Expedition to 
Dead Sea in 1847/ m Journal of Royal Geographical Society, 
xviii. pp. 126 ff . ; Lynch's Narrative of U.S. Expedition in 1848, 
including visit to Kerak; in 1852 Robinson visited Pellaand Wady 
Yabis (see Later Bib. Res., sec. viii. (London, 1856); Porter, 
Five Years in Damascus, with Travels, etc., in Palmyra, Lebanon, 
and the Hauran (London, 1855) ; *Roth in Petermann's Mitthei- 
lungen, 1857 and 1858, journeys about Kerak southward to 
Akabah ; G. Rey, Voyage dans le Haouran et aux bords de la 
Mer Morte in 1858 ; Wetzstein, Reisebericht uber Hauran u. dit 
Trachonen (1858), (Berlin, i860); *Wetzstein's and Dorgen's 



666 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



expedition farther south in 1800, in Petermann's MiltheiL 1866; 
De Saulcy in 1863 visited Ammon, Hesban, etc., Voy. en Terre 
Sainte, i, 1865: *Duc de Luynes, Voy. d 'exploration d la Mer 
Morte, d Petra, et sur la rive gauche du Jourdain in 1864 (pub. 
in 1874), vol. ii. contains Mavor's and Sanvaire's expedition to 
Kerak, Shobek, etc. ; Wilson and Anderson, 1866, in P.E.F.Q., 
vol. i. ; Warren, Reconnaissance of Jordan Valley, 1867; and in 
P.E.F.Q., i. and ii. ; Palmer and Drake, Desert of Tih and 
Country of Moab in P.E.F Q., 1871 ; the two Kieperts travelled 
from Amman by Gadara to Muzeirib in 1870, * Zeitschrift der 
Ges. fur Erdkunde (Berlin, v.) ; Northey's Expedition East of 
fordan in 1871 (P.E.F.Q., 1872); Tristram's journey of 187 1 in 
Land of Moab \ 1874; Porter's journey of 1874 in P.E.F.Q., 
1 88 1 ; Kersten's journey to Dead Sea and Moab, 1874, in 
Z.D.P.V., ii. ; Expedition of American Society in 1876, in 
Merrill's East of the fordan (London, 1881); Schick's journey to 
Moab in 1877 is described with map in Z.D.P.V., ii. ; in 1881 
Langer made a short journey, reported in *Mitth. d. Geogr. 
Ges. in Wien, 1882; Burton and Drake, Unexplored Syria ; 
Laurence Oliphant's Land of Gilead, 1880. Tn 1881 Conder 
and Mantell began that brave, skilful survey of Eastern Palestine, 
which the Turkish authorities brought to so abrupt a conclusion. 
For account of this survey, see P.E.F.Q., 1881, 1882; P.E.F. 
Mem. on Eastern Palestine, and Conder, Heth and Moab, 1885. 
In 1884, the English Geological Expedition, under Hull and 
Kitchener, surveyed the south end of Dead Sea and regions 
round about, P.E.F.Q., 1884, and Geolog. vol. in P.E.F Mem. 
In 1884 Guy Le Strange visited Pella, Ajlun, and the Belka', 
P.E.F.Q., 1885, also in Schumacher's Across Jordan, in which is 
given Oliphant's Trip to N.E. of Lake Tiberias. Schumacher's 
very careful and important surveys and travels, from 1885 
onward, are described in Across the Jordan, being an Exploration 
and Survey of part of Hauran and Jaulan (London, 1886 : pub- 
lished by P.E.F. ; The Jaulan, surveyed for the D.P. V. (Eng. 
Ed. 1888) ; Pella; Ajlun ; Abila of the Decapolis as supplement 
to P.E.F.Q. 1889. 

Other more recent works are Scharling, Hauran : Reisebildei 
aus Paldstina (Bremen, 1890). In Z.D.P.V. among others: — 



Appendix IV 667 



Stubel, Reise nach den Diret et Tulul, etc., with map, xn. ; 
Van Kasteren, Journey in Gi/ead, xm. 

In P.E.F.Q., Post, Narrative of a Scientific Expedition in the 
Trans-Jo rda?iic Region in the Spring of 1886, vol. for 1888. 

The volumes and articles on the inscriptions of Eastern 
Palestine will be found given on p. 15. 



APPENDIX V 

ROADS AND WHEELED VEHICLES IN SYRIA 
(See p. 329) 

Judah's progress in the matter of chariots is interesting. Joshua 
houghed all horses and burnt all chariots taken in war (Josh, 
xi. 6, 9). David houghed most of the horses, but kept a hundred 
for himself (2 Sam. viii. 4). Solomon had 1400 chariots which 
he placed in chariot cities, and also with the king at Jerusalem 
(1 Kings x. 26). That is to say, there would be but few at 
Jerusalem, where the ground was quite unsuitable for their 
manoeuvre, and the depots of them were at cities in the 'Arabah 
or Shephelah, where they would be of more use. There was a 
Beth Mercabhoth in the Negeb. The only instances of chariots 
driving into Jerusalem are mentioned p. 330. But see also 
2 Sam. xvi., where Absalom is mentioned as having chariots, 
whether in Jerusalem is uncertain ; and Isa. xxiii., where the 
Assyrian chariots fill the valley of Jehoshaphat. 

Wheeled vehicles drawn by oxen were used in agriculture from 
the earliest times, 1 Sam, vi. 10; 2 Sam. vi. 3 (cf. Amos ii. 13, 
here, perhaps, rather threshing-rollers). As a nomadic race, who, 
when they settled, settled in a rough hilly country, Israel would 
not soon take to wheels ; and the earliest carts or waggons 
mentioned in the Bible came from Philistia or Egypt (1 Sam. vi. 
10; Gen. xlv. 19, etc.). Chariots were introduced from Meso- 
potamia, and later from Egypt (who herself had the chariot and 
horse from Asia). The Syrians, with their flat country south of 
Damascus, were strong in chariots, and Samaria lay on the 
main road between Egypt and Damascus, which crossed her 



• 

668 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



north-west corner, and was used by chariots {Travels of an 
Egyptian, see p. 152). 

Roads, in our sense of the term, were not necessary for these 
waggons and chariots. In 189 1, on the east of Jordan, we met 
a number of Circassians driving bullock-carts all the way from 
Damascus to Jerash and Rabboth-Amrnon. But artificial roads 
of some kind or other appear to have existed in Palestine from 
the earliest times. The I"6d», Authorised Version highway, is 
literally heaped up } often only for temporary purposes, such as 
the visit of royalty, cf. Isa. xlv., lxii. 10 (I have seen the like 
on the visit of the Khedive Tewfik to Siout in Upper Egypt in 
1880); but also for permanent use, Num. xx. 19; Judges xx. 
31; i Sam. vi. 12; 1 Chron. xxvi. 16; Jer. xxxi. 21. Roads 
were enjoined to be made to the cities of refuge (Deut. xix. 3). 

In the New Testament, outside the visions of Revelation, 
horses and chariots, except in one instance, do not exist, a 
curious contrast to the Old Testament, and proof of the pacific 
plebeian character of the kingdom of Him who came riding upon 
an ass. The exception is the chariot of the treasurer of Queen 
Candace (Acts viii. 28 ff.). 

The Romans were the first to make great roads in Palestine, 
and this not till the times of the Antonines in the second half of 
the second century. The milestones are chiefly of Antoninus 
Pius and Marcus Aurelius. The roads rendered driving easy 
over all the land. 

After the Moslem invasion the first Khalifs kept up the 
Roman roads in Syria, with a service of stage-coaches and posts. 
The Latin word mile was adopted, Jj^J \ El-Mil. One Arab 
milestone has been discovered on the road between Jerusalem 
and Jericho, at Khan-el-Hatroura, inscribed as placed by 'the 
servant of God, Abd-el-Melik, prince of believers. May the 
mercy of God be to him. From Damascus to this milestone is 
109 miles.' This was the Khalif Abd-el-Melek ibn Merwan, 
65-86 of the Hejra, builder of the so-called mosque of Omar. 
See Clermont-Ganneau, Recueil d\4rcheologie Orientate, 201 ff. : 
'Une Pierre Milliaire Arabe de Palestine du i ere siecle de l'hegire.' 

In the times of the Crusades, 1 the royal roads, which generally 
replaced the ancient Roman ways, still apne^r to have been 



Appendix V 



669 



used by wheeled vehicles. As for others, there is every cause 
to think that they were only mule-paths.' 1 

The decay of all these great roads, and the disappearance of 
wheeled vehicles from the land — till very recently — was due, of 
course, to the conquest of Syria by nomad and desert tribes 
whose only means of locomotion were animals. The few roads 
and carriages now in existence are entirely of Frank or Circassian 
origin. There is the splendid Alpine road from Beyrout to 
Damascus, with branches, and good roads from Jaffa to Jeru- 
salem, Jerusalem to Jericho and Hebron, Jaffa to Nablus (con- 
structing), and Haifa to Nazareth; also one partly made from 
Damascus along the Hajj route. Already one railway is opened 
from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and another is in process of construction 
from Haifa to Damascus. 

1 Rey, Colonies Franques, 254, 



ADDITIONAL NOTES TO THE SECOND EDITION 

%* Those to Chapter IX. will be found at the end of that chapter 

Pp. 8, 523, 525, note 673. — The Aneezeh. Burton spells the name 
'Anazeh (so also Conder). Wetzstein (Reiseberitht) gives it as 'Anezeh, 

P. 13. — The mediaeval belief that Palestine was the central province of the 
earth, the very centre being found in Jerusalem, is well illustrated in a map 
of Marino Sanuto, which Mr. Bartholomew and I hope to reproduce in our 
Historical Atlas of the Holy Land. See Bongar's Gesta Dei Per Francos ; 
vol. ii. 

P. 14. —Of the recently discovered Aramaean inscriptions in Senjerli the 
best account is given in Die Altsemitischen Inschriften von Sendscherli, von 
David Heinrich Miiller ; Holder, Vienna, 1893. Cf. Conder, in Contemporary 
Review for September 1894. 

P. 15, note 1. — To the various collection of inscriptions from the East of 
the Jordan there is now to be added that by the Rev. W. Ewing in the 
P.E.F.Q. for January 1895. 

P. 16, note 1. — To the list of historical and geographical authorities in 
the Graeco-Roman period in Syria add Heinrich Kiepert's Formae Orbit 



670 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Antiquae (Berlin : Dietrich Reimer), the first part of which has just been 
published. The letterpress is in English. 

P. 20. — I understand that lor the present the construction of the railway 
from Haifa to Damascus has been suspended. 

P. 78, top of note. — 'Ain Sinia. Conder {Critical Review, iv. 293) says 
there is a good spring to north-east of village. See P.E.F. Mem. ii. 291. 

P. 130. — Conder doubts whether Dor, now Tanturah, is the Merla of the 
Crusaders. 

P. 135, note 2. — For the converse view of Syria from Cyprus, see Felix 
Fabri, P.P.T. i. 198. 

P. 153. — On the roads through Philistia, compare Plate iv. As stated in 
the text (cf. also p. 193), there was undoubtedly a road from Ashdod by the 
modern Burkah and Beshshit to Ekron and Ramleh, and it ought, therefore, 
to be marked on the maps, though not so prominently as the main road from 
Ashdod to Jamnia. 

P. 157, note 4. — Compare Milton, Paradise Lost, book H. ; Felix Fabri, 
P.P.T. ii. 470. 

P. 159. —The Rev. Thomas G. Selby (now of Liverpool) informs me, 'in 
connection with the descriptions of the Plague in Hong-Kong in the early 
part of the present year (1894), that there were swellings round the loins and 
under the armpits, I should think identical in character, as far as one can 
judge, with the tumours which afflicted the Philistines. The outbreak of 
the Plague was preceded by a frightful mortality among the rats. The 
Plague in Central China, nine or ten years ago, was also preceded by such 
foreshadowing of its approach in the death of rats, etc. Was the Plague in 
Ashdod preceded by some such phenomenon, and does the making of the 
votive images of golden mice point to some such incident in the event ?' 

P. 162 ff. — For a very instructive paper on Elijah, St. George, and El 
Khudr, see the Z.D.P. V. for 1894. 

P. 234, note 4. — To authorities on Lachish excavated, add Bliss, A 
Mound of Many Cities, or Tell el Hesy Excavated, with upwards of 25a 
illustrations, published for the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1894. 

P. 243, note 1. — Conder is doubtful whether the inscriptions are older 
than the twelfth century, but does not give reasons {C?-itical Review, iv. 
295)- 

Pp. 279-280, note on Dhaheriyah. — In his review of this volume in the 
Academy, Professor Sayce (cf. P.E.F. Q. January 1893) says: 'The little 
information given as to the site of the city, i.e. Kiriath-Sepher, in the Old 
Testament seems to exclude its identification with Dhaheriyeh, where, more- 
over, Professor Petrie found no remains of early date. The name Debir 
more naturally signifies " Sanctuary," as in 1 Kings vi. 5, than "Back."' 
With this, however, I cannot agree. As Dr. Sayce goes on to point out, 
W. Max MUller has suggested Beth-Thupar of The Travels of a Mohar as 
equivalent to the Hebrew Beth-Sopher, ' House of the Scribe,' and, sup- 
posing that the writer transposed Kiriath and Beth, identifies Beth-Thupai 
with Kiriath-Sepher, which he accordingly points Kiriath-Sopher, in contra 



Additional Notes to the Second Edition 671 



diction both of the Massoretic and Septuagint texts. In this Dr. Sayce agrees 
with Dr. Miiller. I cannot, however, but think that the several steps by 
which they reach their conclusion are too precarious to be trusted. 

P. 425, note 1.— For Beth She'arim Conder proposes Sha'rah, on the 
Tabor Plateau. 

P. 468, note 2. — To the depressions of land below the level of the sea, add 
that in the Liukchun oasis in Central Asia. According to the Izvestiya of 
the Russian Geographical Society, No. r, 1894 (quoted in The Scottish 
Geographical Magazine, vol. x. p. 542), the salt lake, Bojaite, which forms 
the lowest part of the Liukchun hollow, is about 330 feet below Turfan, 
which is itself 160 feet below sea-level. 

P. 490, note 4. — I notice, however, that J. S. Poloner mentions {P.P.T. 
ed. p. 27) that he saw lions in 1421. 

P. 502, line 2. — On buoyancy of Dead Sea, cf. Josephus v. Wars, ix. To 
references in note 2 add Aristotle, Meteorics, book 11. 

P. 503, line 6. — On surroundings of Dead Sea, cf. Felix Fabri ed. 
P.P. T. ii. 164. 

Pp. 505-508.— The site of the Cities of the Plain. With regard to the 
statements on p. 505 that the question of this site is insoluble, and on p. 508 
that I wonder at the confidence with which it has been decided, whether for 
north or south of the Dead Sea, the Rev. W. F. Birch has kindly favoured 
me with a statement of his reasons for the northern situation. They are 
mainly those I have stated on p. 506, with emphasis laid on the opinion that 
the ' Kikkar ' and ' the Kikkar of Jordan' are names not applicable to the 
south of the Dead Sea ; and with these additions, that a Zoar on the south- 
eastern edge of the Dead Sea would not be visible from Pisgah (Deut. 
xxxiv. 3), and that, ' in Isaiah xv. 4, 5, 6 and Jeremiah xlviii. 34, Zoar (near 
Sodom) is connected rather with places towards the north of Moab than 
towards the south.' Now, except that I do not feel the impossibility of 
the extension of the name Kikkar of Jordan to the south end of the Dead 
Sea, just as the present name Ghor is so extended, I grant the strength of 
Mr. Birch's reasons. They are strong ; yet so also are the reasons of 
Clermont Ganneau and others for the south (see pp. 506, 507). And that 
is why, though I might favour the one rather than the other, that I still 
feel neither side can afford to be dogmatic. 

Pp. 515-516. — The relative passage in Josephus is vii. Wars, viii. ix. 

P. 521. — The goddess Ilygeia. Cf. Mr. Ewing's inscriDtions, No. 124. 
P.E.F.Q. January 1895. 

P. 535. — The Belka'. In 1893 a new mulasseraflik was establiiheo south of 
Arnon, the centre with police garrison at Ma'an near Petra ; and a Kaimakam 
with a small garrison at Kerak. This also modifies note I, p. 533. 

P. 537, note 3 (continued on 538). — Some of the great castles in Gilead 
date probably in part from the Crusades. Salt and. Rubud may have been 
held by the Franks for some time. The Crusaders have left their marks on 
the ruins about Heshbon. 

P. 538. — On the name Ccele-Syria. as understood in the Middle Ages, se* 



by 2 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Felix Fabri, P.P. T. i. 198, where it seems to be taken as equal to Syria 
north of Galilee. 

P. 586, note z. — Conder {Critical Review >, iv. 290) thinks the site he 
proposes for Mahanaim suitable. ' The locality is well watered, and contains 
several important ruins.' 

Pp. 623-624, note 3. — The name Nabatean survived for some years the 
fall of the Nabatean kingdom. ' Annelus the Nabatean 1 occurs on an 
inscription of 140 a.d. Wadd. 2437 ; Ewing, 94. 

P. 628. — To note I add: especially Wadd. 2457, Ewing, 74. To list of 
Nabatean deities add: Adad, Ewing, 51, from Khabab ; Ogenes at 'Ary, 
Wadd. 2440, Ewing, 99 ; Heracles at Nejran of the Manemenoi, Wadd. 
2428, Ewing, 114. 

P. 629. — To note 3 add : Ewing, 44, an inscription from Es-Sunamein. 

P. 633. — To note I add : De Rossi suggests that XMr stands for Xpiarbs, 
Mlxar)\, TapptrjX. 

P. 647, second paragraph. — The Bawabat Allah, the southern gateway of 
Damascus, is actually called in Turkish Misr Kapusi, or Egyptian Gate. 
See Mrs. Burton's Inner Life of Syria, ed. 1884, p. 51. 

Note on the Spelling and Derivation of the name LejA. 

In the First Edition this name was spelt with double 'j,' thus Lejjah, for 

which form a suitable derivation might have been found in the Arabic ^J, Lujj, 

*a mass of water,' 'a great depth of sea,' and by comparison 'a rough place 
on a mountain ' (Kamus), see pp. 615 f. Conder also gives Lejja as a North 
Syrian word for basalt {Critical Review, iv. 289). But the pronunciation of 
the name appears, according to all the best authorities, to be indubitably 

with one 'j' — Lejah, El-Lejah, l^H, the accent on the last syllable. So 
Burckhardt, ' Ledjah ' ; Wetzstein, ' Lega' ' ; Burton, * Lejah ' ; Merrill, 
'Lejah'; Fischer and Guthe's map, ' El-Ledschah ' ; and the Rev. W. 
Ewing (in a private letter to myself), ' El-LejaV This form may very well be 

the same as the Arabic noun ^J, 'a refuge or asylum ' (Kam). And the 

North Syrian common noun for ' basalt,' according to Conder, ' Lejja,' would 
in that case be a derivative from the name of the region from which North 
Syria chiefly derives its great basalt mill-stones, see p. 614. 



Additional Notes to the Fourth Edition 673 



ADDITIONAL NOTES TO THE FOURTH EDITION 

P. 4, note 2. — Willrich, Juden u. Griechen vor der Makkab. Erhebung, 
J 895» 43, takes Herodotus to mean by Palastina only Philistia. Kirchhoff 
{Peterm. Mitth., 1895, P« I0 ) distinguishes a threefold use by Herodotus 
of the name. 

P. 63, note I.— To the authorities given add : ' Das Klima von Jerusalem, 
dargestellt von Chaplin, u. bearbeitet von Kersten,' Z.D.P.V., 1891, xiv. 
93-112; Kaisner, 'Die Meteorologie der Bibel,' in Das Wetter, a meteoro- 
logical monthly, 1892, ix, Heft 2 (not seen) ; * Wetterberichte aus Jerusalem,' 
in Warte des Tempels, 1894. The D.P.V. have lately established a large 
number of new stations for weather observations. See paper by Dr. O. 
Kersten in M.u.N.D.P. K, 1895, 49 ff - 

P. 64, lines 23, 24. — Song ii. 11 : winter here is VDD> probably = rainy 

t : 

season ; cf. Arab, shit A. Further, in P.E.F.Q., 1894, Glaisher gives average 
annual rainfall in Jerusalem as very nearly that of London ; but his tables 
illustrate the extreme differences between one year and another. 

P. 65, note 2. — According to I Mace. xiii. 22 a snowstorm prevented 
Trypho from invading the hill-country of Judaea; cf. Jos. xiv. Ant. xv. 4. 

P. 67, note 1. — On the evening breeze, cf. Gen. iiL 8. See also Song 
ii. 17. 

P. 80.— Blanckenhorn, Z.D.P. V. xv. 62, followed by Buhl {Geogr. pp. 54, 
55), takes the decrease of cultivation in Syria to be due to a diminution of 
damp and cold in the climate, which he alleges to have continued from 
prehistoric times, when its reality is proved by geology, into historic ; cf. also 
Fraas, Aus dem Orient, i. 198 ff. But Benzinger is in agreement with the 
opinion I have stated. He says : ' that within historical times the climate has 
changed, and in particular was formerly more rainy, is an opinion which 
cannot be proved either from the information of the Old Testament or from 
the present condition of the country ' (Archaologie, p. 32). 

P. 83, first paragraph. — Honey, in the frequent phrase milk and hon * 
(Gen. xliii. n, etc. etc.), would appear not to be the honey of bees, but the 
sweet syrup manufactured from grapes (cf. Benzinger, Arch. p. 91 ; Buhl, 
Geogr. p. 57). Yet this interpretation does not suit Isa. vii. 22, cf. v. 23. 
In this passage honey must mean bee-honey. 

P. 130. — On Dor. Schumacher (P.E.F.Q., 1895, p 113) reports the 
collapse of the tower, 'el Burj.' 

P. 147. — On Crocodile River cf. Pliny, N.H. v. 17. Crocodiles have been 
found in recent times; cf. Robinson, Phys. Geog. p. 189, and P. E.F.Mem. 
ii. 3. 

P. 148.— The Nahr el Kasab or River of Reeds, mentioned by Boha-ed- 
din, Vita Saladini, ed. Schultens, pp. 191, 193, is perhaps the Mufjir, yet 
Guerin, Sam. ii. 384 ff., finds the Nahr el Kasab in the Falik. With the 
name Kasab is to be compared the Hebrew Kanah. See p. 249. 

2 U 



674 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



P. 164.— On Dajnn and Beit Dajon see Baldensperger, P.E.F.Q., 1895, 
p. 1 14, with list of place-names. 

P. 186, note 3. — Bertrandon de la Brocquiere, on his way from Jerusalem 
to Gaza, says that between Hebron and Gaza he 'crossed a desert country.' 
Bohn's Early Travels, p. 289. 

P. 201 f.— Buhl {Geog. p. 104), while wrongly asserting that I hold the use 
cf the name Shephelah to have been ' exclusively' limited to the Low Hills, 
offers several reasons in proof of its common extension over the Maritime 
Plain. I have stated and replied to these in an article in the Expositor fo? 
December 1896. 

P. 212. — Modon, 'a village on a high hill in sight of the convent of St. 
John 3 (Maundrell). In Revue Biblique, pp. 1109 ff. (quoted by Buhl, p. 198). 
Le Camus contests the interpretation of 1 Mace. xiii. 29 f. , according to which 
Modeeim was visible from the sea ; but Buhl says he gives no good reasons 
for a more southerly position than the one generally accepted. 

P. 229, note I.— On the name Adullam : Nestle, M.u.N.D.P. V., 1895, P- 
43. He identifies it with the Q S £~>DD of 1 Sam. xvii. 1, LXX. But see 
Seybold, ibid. 1896, p. 25. 

P. 233, note 2. — There is a great deal of evidence that Mareshah and 
Moresheth-Gath were two distinct places. See the author's Twelve Prophets, 
t 376, 385. The present Mer'ash, one mile south of Beit-Jibrin, is spelt 
the same as n£>&OD> f° rm °f tne name Mareshah in Josh. xv. 44 (else- 

T " T 

where n^HD)* Moresheth-Gath, Micah (i. 14, 15) distinguishes from 

T •• T 

Mareshah, and so does Jerome, both in the Onomasticon and the Epitaph. S. 
Paulae, placing ' Morasthi ' as a village to the east of Eleutheropolis, and 
'Maresa' as ruins on the second milestone from the same. Benjamin of 
Tudela (Bohn's Early Travels, p. 87) identifies Mareshah with Beit-Jibrin. 

P. 233, note 3.— See P.E.F.Q., 1886, pp. 50 ff., 148 ff. 

236. — Eltekeh, I am now led to think, lay in the Vale of Sorek to the east, 
but not far, from Ekron. See article 'Eltekeh' in Cheyne and Black : s 
forthcoming Bible Dictionary. 

P. 249. —On Brook Kanah. See above, Additional Note to p. 148. 

P. 254, note 1. —Buhl points out against Schlatter that the LXX. of Josh, 
x. 10, tlpwveiy (cf. LXX. of 2 Sam. xiii. 34) confirms the meaning ol 
Sanballat's title, the Horoni (Neh. ii. iq, 19; xiii. 28), as 'citizen of Beth- 
Horon' (Geog. p. 169). 

P. 270, note 2.— Cf. Josh. xv. 61, 62. 

P. 272. — ' The ascent of Ziz, ' psjn n^>yo, means literally ascent ol the flower, 
but the second part of it may have been a proper name, cf. LXX. Aaaeis, L. 
Acrtcra, and as such connected with the name of Engedi, p^fl 2 Ch. 

sx. 2, LXX. Aaaouv Qaixap. ~\ftp\ p¥¥J"!» Gen. xiv. 7, LXX. 'Aaao-owdauap. 

With the Vale of Berachah, cf. the ruins now known as Berekflt in the 
wilderness of Tekoa. 

Another place of military fame in the wilderness of Tekoa is 'the water of 



Additional Notes to the Fourth Edition 675 



the pool Asphar,' rb vSCbp A&kkov 'Aatp&p [i Mace. ix. 33 N V but A has A<T<f>a\]. 
Adze/cos is the usual LXX. rendering of 1x2 or -^3. The Ee'er Asphar is 

probably the modern Bir-Selhub, a large cistern six miles WSW. of En-gedi, 
and near the junction of several roads (Robinson, B.R. ii. 202). The 
hills around still bear the name Sufra. Others (e.g. Buhl, Geog. p. 158) 
identify Asphar with the ruin and cistern Ez-Za'ferane to the south of 
Tekoa. 

P. 277, note I. — It is now probable that, if Deut. xi. 30 is to be so construed 
that it is Ebal and Gerizim which are described as over against Gi/gal, this 
Gilgal was the present Julejil (cf. Schlatter, Zur Topogr. pp. 246 ff. 274 ; 
Buhl, Gsog. p. 202). 

P. 292. — Van Kasteren, Z.D.P.V. xiii. 101, suggests for Laishah, 
' Isawiye. ' 

P. 340, lines 12, 13. — Carmel was a retreat for Elijah, 2 Kings i. 9j for 
Elisha, ib. ii. 25, iv. 25 ; for fugitives, Amos ix. 3. 

P. 347, note 7. — Germer-Durand, in an article ' Epigraphie Palestinienne ' 
in the Revue Biblique Trimestrielhy iii. 1894, pp. 248 ff., gives account of 
an inscription discovered in Sebastiyeh, which is dated from the fifteenth year 
cf the rebuilding of the city. 

Pp. 350 and 401, The position of Aphek in Sharon.— For this we have 
now the following evidence, which I have already published in a review of 
Buhl's Geog. in Expositor for Dec. 1896. In the lists of Thothmes ill. of 
his conquest in Palestine, No. 66, is Apukn. It is preceded by Joppa, 
Lydda, and Ono, and followed by Suka (67) and Yhm (68). Yhm is where 
Thothmes had to decide which of three roads he would take over Carmel ; 
it lay therefore south of the W. 'Abu Nar and may have been Yemma. Suka 
is the present Shuweikeh, two miles further south, and Apukn (which Max 
Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 161, says may be read Apuki) lay between it 
and Ono at the mouth of Ajalon. A fragment of Esarhaddon (681-668 B.C.) 
gives a city Apku as thirty Kasbu-Kakka (according to Schrader 'double 
leagues ') from Raphia, from which it would be natural to measure a place on 
Sharon (though Schrader, K. A. T?, p. 204, takes Apku to be the present Fik, 
on the east of the Lake of Galilee). Again Josephus, ii. Warr^ xix. 1, 
mentions a 'j<i.?ei of Aphek' (ILvpyos 'Ac^ckov), to drive the Jews out of 
which Cestins Gallus, after reaching Antipatris from Caesarea, ' sent before ' 
a party, and then, after taking it, he marched on Lydda. This agrees with 
data of Thothmes, and implies an Aphek between the river 'Aujeh and 
Lydda. No place-name can now be found with an unmistakable echo of the 
old name, but two may be noted. There is a Fejjeh or Feggeh, nine miles 
north-east of Joppa, which, however, does not lie near enough to the east 
limit of the plain to suit Lucian's text of 2 Kings xiii. 22 : Hazael took 
the Philistine from his hand from the western sea to Aphek. In a list of 
mediaeval Arab place-names about Caesarea quoted by Rohricht, Z.D.P. V. t 
1896, there occur a Sair Fuka and a Fakin. 

P. 351, note 2. — With Baal-Shalisha cf. the Baith-sarisa of Eusebius, 
thirteen Roman miles west of Lydda and Shalisha, 1 Sam. ix. 4. 



6j6 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



P. 351, note 3.— Buhl (p. 170) identifies the former with Thamna (ct 
I Mace. ix. 50) and with the modern Tibne. 

P. 356. — In Revue Illustric dt la Terre Sainte t 1894, A. Raboisson dis- 
cusses ' La Veracite* du Livre Judith : ii. Discussion Historique d'apres lea 
documents Assyriens.' 

P. 367.— Cf. Schlatter, Zur Topographic, etc., 268 ff. 

P. 373 f., The water of the Well of Jacob. — All who are interested in the 
question, why the c Woman of Samaria ' sought water at the Well of Jacob, 
while the valley has so many open streams, will feel indebted for the 
following very valuable note, kindly sent me by Dr. H. J. Bailey of Bishop- 
stoke, near Southampton, who resided in Nablus, as medical missionary, for 
over two years : — 

* Apart from the sacred character of the Well, its waters have a great 
local reputation for purity and flavour among the natives of El 'Askar and 
Nablus. The excellence of various supplies of water, and their respective 
qualities, are a favourite topic of conversation with Easterns, and in a hot 
climate, and where other beverages are almost unknown, it is not surprising 
to find that the natives are great connoisseurs as to the quality of water. . . . 
The numerous springs of water at Nablus are, from the nature of the soil, 
mostly of very hard water, very "heavy," as the natives express it. They 
not unjustly attribute many of their complaints to this cause, and speak with 
longing of the '''light*' waters of Gaza and other places. Now Jacob's Well has 
a reputation among them of containing cool, palatable, and refreshing water, 
free from the deleterious qualities of their other supplies. Frequently I have 
been told that, after eating a hearty meal (and a hearty meal with them is 
something appalling), a good draught of this water will disperse the feeling of 
abnormal fulness in a remarkably short space of time, and, moreover, make 
one ready for another good meal. The copious fountain at El 'Askar gushes 
from the very bowels of rocky Mount Ebal (limestone) and is of particularly 
hard or " heavy " water. The woman would, therefore, gladly take her jar to 
the celebrated Well [of Jacob] for a supply of drinking water. 

' Although 30 feet or more of rubbish has found its way into Jacob's Well, 
the supply of water, even now, lasts till the month of May, most years, and 
even later. The source of supply to this well has not yet been accurately 
ascertained, but it is doubtless greatly due to the percolation of the rainfall. 
The latter may account for some of its special quality of "lightness" (soft- 
ness). 

' It is not uncommon in the East to send to a great distance for a supply of 
drinking water, especially among those who can afford to do so. The Woman 
of Samaria may, if poor, have been hired to carry the water for some richer 
person. When at Nablus I used to send to a certain spring some miles or 
so from my house for drinking water, and soon quite a regular little cavalcade 
repaired to this spring every morning and evening to supply the richer families 
with water which the English doctor recommended. Bishop Blyth of 
Jerusalem sends three miles from Jerusalem to 'Ain Karim for his water 
•upply. ' 



Additional Notes to the Fourth Edition 677 



P. 381, Gilboa. — The modern name is Fukua, but the ancient name is 
preserved in Jelb&n, a village on the hill. 

Pp- 387-8, note on Megiddo. — Buhl (pp. 209 f.) agrees with the site at 
Lejjun. In the Amarna tablets Magidda or Makida. Raumer {Pal. 3, p. 402, 
quoted by Buhl) identifies Lejjun with Maximianopolis, 

P. 414, note 4. — Buhl (p. 73) agrees with Schurer. 

P. 441, note 2, — The first trustworthy statistics on the meteorology of the 
Lake of Galilee are given by Mr. Glaisher, P.E.F.Q., 1896, p. 92 : 'Results 
of Meteorological Observations taken at Tiberias under the direction of Dr. 
Torrance, 1890.' The mean monthly temperature varied from 51° in January 
to 90 in August. The lowest temperature was 34°- 3 in January ; the highest 
Hi in September. The mean daily range varied from i3°-5 in December 
to 28°»3 in May. In England the greatest difference in the barometer 
between 8 a.m. and 4 P.M. is in June, 0-025 in. ; but the mean for the year 
at Tiberias was 0-081, or almost four times as great. On 87 days between 
May 4th and November 1st inclusive, and counting every day in August, 
the temperature was above ioo° Fahr. The mean of the high day tempera- 
tures for the year was 85 , while at Jerusalem only 72°-6. The mean tempera- 
ture was 74 , at Jerusalem 63°-2. The rainfall for II months 22-38 in. ; while 
in Jerusalem, 23-92. 

P. 442, note 5.— But, in P.E.F.Q., 1S92, 211 ff., Th. Barrois, after 
giving a history of all previous attempts to fathom the lake, records his own 
results, vie. that the depth scarcely exceeds 40 to 45 metres according to the 
season ; the greatest depths being found on the axis of the Jordan, and 
almost on the meridian of the lake ; the eastern side is the steeper. M. 
Barrois holds that if Lartet's figure of 250 metres is correct it must be due 
to a sudden fissure. 

P. 443, note 1. — Wellhausen, Gesch. p. 220, derives the name from 
and *1D3, by which Galilee is to be understood, the form Gennesaret to be 
explained as due to Kinnereth. Buhl (pp. 113 u. 229) prefers p, garden, the 
lake taking its name from the district of Gennesaret. Schurer, Theol. Lit. 
Zeit. March 2, 1895, supports }J on account of the Greek form of the name, and 
points out that the best reading in the only passage of the Mishna in which the 
name occurs, Maaseroth iii. 7, is *1D ,, 3J, which is pointed by the cod. de Rossi, 
138, -ip s 33- 

P. 450, note 2. — 'Afipadovs, not 'A/^uaous, is the right reading in Jos. xviii. 
Ant. ii. 3, and iv. Wars, i. 3, See Niese. 

P. 455.— Magdala. Mark viii. 10 gives Dalmanutha. In the Talmud 
(cf. Neubauer) there are various Magdalas, or Migdals. One lay a Sabbath 
day's journey from Tiberias, therefore nearer the latter than Mejdel, and 
Buhl thinks south of Tiberias itself. Perhaps it was Megdal Minya. There 
was also a Migdal Sebo'ayya ; cf. Buhl, pp. 225-6. 

P. 456-7, note 2. — In face of this evidence and list of authorities, Buhl's 
statement's too strong that inTell-hum, 'sucht man jetzt allgemein das N. T. 
Kapernaum ' (p„ 224). Buhl prefers Tell-hum chiefly on the statement of Theo- 
dosius that the fountain Heptapegon (which Buhl takes to have been the 'Ain 



The Historical Geography oj the Holy Land 



et Tabigha) was two Roman miles from Capernaum. Failing the testimony 
of Theodosius he thinks 'Ain et Tabighah would suit best. He lays no stress 
on the statements of Arculf. Kirchhoff (Peterm. Mitth., 1895, p. 10) also 
supports Tell- Hum. 

P. 458, One Bethsaida, not two. — Buhl reaches the same conclusions on 
the same evidence ; but pertinently adds that the native town Bethsaida need 
not have been the same as the half-heathen Julias, which Jesus would hardly 
have entered, but was probably the port of the latter ; he quotes Schumacher's 
statement {Z.D.P. V. ix. 319) that Bethsaida may have been identical with 
the ruins on the sea called El-'Araj, and connected with Et-Tell, the site of 
Julias, by a fine street. But see Jos, xviii. Ant. ii. 1. 

P. 459, lines 6-8, Hippos and Kula'at el Hosn. — More probably Kula'at el 
Hbsn is Hippos itself, with Aphek, now Fik, near, as described by Eusebius. 
Jos. locates it on east coast of Lake, 30 stadii from Tiberias (xiv. Ant. iv. 4 ; 
xv. Ant. vii. 3; xvii. Ant. xi. 4; ii, Wars, xviii. 1, 5 ; Life, 9. 65). The 
name Susiye is properly of the plain south of the gorge : 'Ard Susiye. Gamala 
is placed by Van Kasteren, Z.D.P. V. xiii. 215 ff,, as previously by Furrer, 
ib. ii. 149 f., in Jamli on the Rukkad. But see against this Schumacher, Id. 
ev. 175, who himself suggests El Ehsun {N. 'Ajlun, p, 116). 

P. 480. — Buhl does not think my argument for Paneas = Dan sufficient, 
and holds to the old opinion that Tell-el-Kadi is Dan. There remain, however, 
the military difficulties, and the phrase (Deut. xxxiii. 22), Dan Uapeth from 
Bashan, which suits Baneas but not Tell-el-Kadi. 

P. 488. — On Adam, Zarthan, etc., see P.E.F.Q., 1895, for papers by 
Watson (p. 253) on stoppage of the River Jordan, A.D. 1267, Dalton (p. 334) 
Stevenson {ib.); and P. E. F. Q. , 1896, for papers by Stevenson (p. 82) and 
especially Clermont-Ganneau (pp. 79 f). 

P. 502, note 2. — Lartet reports the discovery of microbes of Tetanus and 
other pathogenic forms in the mud of the Dead Sea. P.E.F.Q., 1892, pp. 
48 ff. 

P. 512. — On Masada see Tuch ' Masada, die Herodianische Felsenfeste, 
nach Fl. Josephus u. neueren Beobachtern' {Rtformationsfest, 1863). 

P. 513, The Position of the Cities of the Plain.— Buhl {Geog. p. 271) 
favours the identification of the Zo'ar of Genesis and Deut. with the Zo'ar of 
the Moslem period, at the south end of the Dead Sea, and pertinently points 
out that the Biblical city could not have lain at the north-east corner of the 
sea, because, while it is given as a Moabite town (Isa. xv. 51 ; Jer. xlviii. 34), 
it nowhere appears in the lists of cities belonging to Israel. He also notes 
that, according to Ezekiel xvi. 46, Sodom lay south of Judah. 

P. 541, Gaulanitis. — Josephus seems to use the name for all the country north 
of Yarmuk, where he describes Og as King of Gaulanitis and Galaaditis 
(iv. Ant. v. 3). If Solyma {Life, 37) be the Salem of to-day that would carry 
the name east as far as the Jebel Druz. But again Josephus distinguishes 
Gaulanitis from Hippene and Gamalitis, iii, Wars, iii. I, 5. 

P. 55 t p Aigob and Havoth Jair. — Buhl (pp. 1 18-119) equally rejects th* 
Identification of these as due to a confusion. He suggests foi Argob the 



Additional Notes to the Fourth Edition 679 



district Suwet, where, according to Wetzstein, there are the ruins of 30 
towns. See also Driver, Deuteronomy, pp. 48 f. 

P. 552, — Hauran appears in an inscription of Salmanassar II. j cf. Winckle 
Keilinschrift Handbuch z. A. T., 10 f. In the Mishna, Hauran is a mountain 
(Neubauer, Gtog. du Talmud, p. 426). 

557, note 2. — Buhl suggests a tributary of the W. Kerak j cf. Driver on 
Deut. xi. 13. 

P. 568, note 5. — Add the following: De Vogue\ Le Temple de Jerusalem, 
pp. 37-42, pi. xxxiv, xxxv. De Saulcy, Voyage en Terre Sainte, i. p. 211 f . ; 
Due de Luynes's Voyage d" exploration h la Mer Morte, pi. 30-33 ; P.E.F.M., 
E. Palestine, i. p. 65-87 ; Gautier, Au Delh du Jourdain, pp. 50 ff. 

P. 580, note 5. — Khurbet Istib, south of W. Yabis, where there is a ruined 
chapel, Mar Elyas ; cf. Van Kasteren, Z.D.P. V. xiii. 207. 

P. 586, note 2. — For the Bithron Buhl (p. 121) suggests W. 'Ajlun, up 
which later a Roman road ran from 'Ajlun towards Mahanaim. He would, 
therefore, not seek Cherith here. 

P. 587, Es-Salt. — Schlatter, Zur Topog. 44 ff., proposes to identify Es-Salt, 
in which a well bears the name Jedur or Jador, with the Gadara given by 
Josephus as the capital of Persea (iv. Wars, vii. 3), and to be distinguished, 
therefore, from Gadara on the Jarmuk. This northern Gadara he takes to be 
the same as that captured by Antiochus the Great in 218, and again in 
198, and by Alex. Jannseus (Polyb. v, 271, Josephus xii. Ant. iii. 3, xiii. Ant. 
xiii. 3 ; i. Wars, iv. 2). This is improbable, at least in the case of Alex. 
Jannseus, for Pompey's enfranchisement of the Gadara on the Jarmuk implies 
a previous Jewish conquest of it. Farther, Schlatter identifies the S. Gadara 
with the Gadora of Ptolemy and the Gedor of the Talmud (See Neubauei). 
Buhl approves (p. 255 «.). 

P. 587, Ramoth-Gilead. — Buhl (p. 262) prefers the identi6cation with the 
ruins El Jala'ad, not quite three miles south of Jabbok, partly on the ground that 
this site suite the data of Eusebius, who places Ramoth, fifteen Roman miles 
west of Philadelphia, on Jabbok. He would also identify it with the town 
of Gilead, Hos. vi. 8 ; cf. Jud. xii. 7, LXX Cod. Alex, and Lag. Strong 
reasons against the identification of Ramoth-Gilead with Es-Salt are given 
by Rev. G. A. Cooke, Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, who visited Es- 
Salt in 1894. He points out that the references to Ramoth-Gilead in the 
Old Testament show that it must have been a place of administrative and 
strategic importance with respect to Bashan on the one hand (1 Kings iv. 13) 
and Syria and North Israel on the other (1 Kings xxii. 3 ff.), accessible from 
Samaria and Jezreel by road (1 Kings xxii. 37, 2 Kings viii. 28 f., ix. 16) ; it 
must have lain consequently north, and indeed considerably north, of the 
Jabbok ; its environs, also, were convenient for chariot warfare (1 Kings xxii. 
31 ff.), while those of Es-Salt are certainly not so. This important evidence 
for that northern site for Ramoth-Gilead, which I have suggested on pp. 587 f. 
and 602, is most welcome. It will be found at greater length in the ' Addenda 
and Corrigenda' to the Second Edition of Canon Driver's Deuteronomy, 

p. KX. 



68o The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



P. 587, Irbid. — Raboisson {Rev. Illus. de la Terre Sainte, 1894) suggests 
identification with the Laribda, as if Ei Irbid, of Assurbanipai's campaign. 

p. 598. — T n th£ Talmud Pella is called Pahil or Pahel, a form wMcb 
connects it with the modern Fahil. 

P. 599, note 1. — For the site of Raphon Buhl (p. 250) suggests Tell-esh- 
Shehab in the Wadi of that name, where there are remains of important 
fortifications. He also suggests that Capitolias was Raphon. Wetzstein 
had already suggested that Capitolias and Karnaim were the same. 

P. 617, note I. — Schiirer (Theol, Literaturzeitung, March 2, 1895) holds 
the existence of an earlier Maichus (inferred by Gutschmid from a coin) 
as problematical. 

P. 624, note 1.— See papers in P.E.F.Q., 1895, by A. G. Wright, on the 
Roman Provinces of Syria and Arabia, with boundary lines, list of places, 
etc. In Umm el Jumal, about 16 miles SSW. of Bostra, there is an 
inscription of the Roman frontier : Wadd. 2057a, 2057^, M.u.N.D.P. V. t 
1896, 49-50; Robinson Lees, Geographical Journal, 1895, v. 19. 

Pp. 634 f. — In this Fourth Edition I have modified the strong contrast 
which I had previously drawn between Pagan and Christian epitaphs on 
the east of Jordan. I had taken ov5ei$ ddduaros as meaning ' nobody is 
immortal,' and as occurring only upon Pagan tomb-stones. Prof. Ramsay 
(Expository Jan. 1895, PP« 5^ *"•) brings forward reasons for doubting both of 
these conclusions. He thinks that the phrase probably means only ' no one 
is free from death,' and maintains that most of the instances of its use are 
clearly Christian (e.g. Wadd. 1897, 1986, 2459, and perhaps ibid. 2032, 
2050, and Ewing 163). In the Academy for Jan. 19th, 1895, Mr. W. E. 
Crum cites four Coptic tombstones with a parallel phrase : ' there is not 
any deathless.' Both Prof. Ramsay and Mr. Crum think it probable that 
the phrase was borrowed from Pagans by Christians. (Revillout, with only 
one tombstone of the kind before him, had previously, as Mr. Crum says, 
called the phrase ' essentiellement materialiste et syrienne.') Ae Prof. 
Ramsay remarks : ' The line of demarcation between Christian and non- 
Christian epitaphs is a very delicate one,' and in face of the evidence pre- 
sented by himself and Mr. Crum I cannot but feel that the distinction I drew 
was too strong. All the same, as I have indicated, the Roman epitaphs seem 
entirely without hope ; the Greek are at the best ambiguous ; the Christian 
probably put a new meaning into the phrases they borrowed from the Pagans ; 
and they do contain certain positive elements of which the Pagan are devoid. 
The whole matter is in need of further discussion. — Further, Prof. Ramsay 
takes koX <r«J as the reply of the deceased to the greeting, as in the fuller form, 
Xafye ' x^P 6 K< d °^ : an( * TeXei/rdw, as probably meaning only to die, though 
such a use was regular only from the fifth century down. He therefore takes 
the second x°"P e > m the inscription of Titus son of Maichus, as the reply of the 
deceased to the first xa-ipc On the analogy of the common formula, 6 /S/oi 
ravra, Life is — this, he prefers to read the inscription on the Irbid tomb, 
fitra T&vTa r*(dra) t After all — this, to reading it as I have done, Merd Udvra 
rd(0ot). 



Additional Notes to the Fourth Edition 681 



Pp. 645-7, Bib i; ography of Eastern Palestine. — To be added: Robinson 
Lees, in the Geographical Journal for 1895; cf. Kiepert in M.u.N.D.P. y t 
1895, 24 ff. ; Schumacher, Z.D.P. V., 1895, on Es-Salt, *5 ff, Madaba, 
113 ff., Dscherasch, 126 ff. ; cf. Schumacher's ' Inschriften aus Dscherasch,' 
ibid. 141. Prof. R. Brunnow, ' Reisebericht,' in M.u.N.D.P. V., 1895, 65 
ff. 81 ; 1896, p. i, with photographs. ' Ein Fusstour in Ostjordanland,' in Die 
Warte des Tempels y 1895, repeated in M.u.N.D.P.V., 1896, p. 33. ' Eine 
Reise nach dem Ostjordanland,' in Der Bote aus Zion y 1895, 33 ff. Professor 
L. Gautier of Lausanne, Au-delh du fourdain. 

In P.E.F.Q. for 1895, 4 Narrative of Expedition to Moab and Gilead,' by 
F. J. Bliss ; cf. * Inscriptions collected in Moab by F. J. Bliss,' with notes 
by A. S. Murray, pp. 371 f. 'A Journey in Hauran,' by Rev. W. Ewing ; cf, 
'Greek and other Inscriptions collected in Hauran by Rev. W. Ewing,' edited 
by A. G. Wright and A. Souter ; also A. G. Wright on * The Roman Pro- 
vinces of Syria and Arabia. 1 In P.E.F.Q., 1896, / A Journey East of Jordan 
•nd Dead Sea,' by Gray Hill. 

P. 668, on fourth paragraph.— The oldest Roman milestone discovered in 
Palestine is one of Hadrian's. See Clermont- Ganneau, ' Une Inscription 
Romaine de Bettir,' Comptes Rendus de VAcadimie des Inscriptions et Belles 
Lettres, 1 894. 

P. 668, on fifth paragraph. — Another Arab milestone of the same Khalif 
has been found near Bab el Wad, on the Roman road from Jerusalem to the 
coast. See De Vogue and Clermont-Ganneau, Comptes Rendus de VAcadimie 
des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, 1894, 27 ff. and 259 f. In the Revue 
Biblique, iii. 1894, pp. 136 ff. Lagrange argues, but not conclusively, for the 
length of the Arab mile as 2500 metres. See also on this paragraph, Arculf, 
A.D. 700, p. 7 in Bonn's Early Travels. 

P. 670, on note on p. 159.— Cf. P.E.F.Q., 1893, 294 (with note by 
Clermont- Ganneau on p. 306), a paper by Schick on Baron Ustinoff's collec- 
tion of antiquities in Jaffa, with ' Remarks on Facsimile of Metal Mouse ' in 
that collection, by Thomas, P.E.F.Q., 1894, 189. On the mortality of rats 
in a part of Bombay, in which the plague broke out (and which is chiefly 
inhabited by grain dealers), see a report by Drs. Child and Surveyor in the 
British Medical Journal for week ending Nov. 7, 1896. I am indebted to 
Rev. T. G. Selby for this reference. 

P. 670, on note on pp. 279-280. — Cf. Muss Arnolt on 'Kiriath Sepher, 
Kiriath Sannah and Debir,' in the Christian Intelligencer ; New York, 17th 
February 1892. 

Note on the Railways. — The railway from Beyrout to Damascus and that 
from Damascus to Muzeirib are open. The company who are constructing 
the railway from Haifa to Damascus have, I understand, been conceded a 
further period of three years for completing the work. For a general account 
of Syrian railways see Z.D.P. V. xvii. 36 ff., M. Hartmann, 'Das Bahnneta 
Mittel- Syrians.' 



I N D 



Abana, see Barada, 46, 642 ff. 
'Abarim, Mountains of the, 53, 548, 
553- 

Abel. For names compounded with 

Abel, see Appendix 1. 
Abel-meholah, 581 n. 
Abila of Decapolis, 594, 600, 602. 
Abilene, Tetrarchy of Lysanias, 547. 
'Abu Zaburah, 130. 
Acca or Acre. See Ptolemais. 
Acre, Plain of, 380. 
'Admahj 505. 
'Adullam, 229. 
'Adummim, 265, 
*Adwan, io, 489 526. 
Agrippa I., or Herod Agrippa, 619 ff. 
Agrippa II., 622 ff. 
'Ai, 252/:, 263. 

'Ain. For names beginning with 
'Ain see note on pp. 77-79. 

'Ajalon, vale of, 210, 250 ff. 

'Ajlun, district of, 536, 553. 

town of, 522 n. 2, 587. 

Alexander the Great, 13, 179, 183 ff f 
347, 593- 

Alexander Janneus, 154 ; captures 
Gaza, 184 ; in Galilee, 414 n. 4 ; 
conquest of Moab, 568 ; in Gilead, 
589/ . 

Alexandrium, a stronghold of Samaria, 
352 /: 

Allat, a Nabatean deity, 628 /. 
'Amalek, in Ephraim, 332 n. ; in 

Negeb, 277 n. 4. 
Amalekites, 282. 
Amathus, 589. 

Amnion, 558, 579, etc. See Rabbath- 

Ammon. 
Amorite, Mount of the, 53, 652. 
Amos and Tekoa, 315. 
Ananiah, 253 n. 4. 
Anathoth, 253 n. 4, 315. 



'Aneezeh, 8, 523, 525 
Anthedon, 189. 

Antioch, spread of Faith to, 37 ; falls 
to the Mohammedans, 38 ; created 
by the Orontes, 46 ; and Damascus, 
647- 

Antiochi, records left by, 14. 
Anti-Lebanon. See Lebanon. 
Antipatris, 165, 256 n. 1. 
Aphek, in Western Palestine, 224 

n. 2, 350, 400 ff. 
Aphek, East of Lake of Galilee, 427, 

459, 58o, 582. 
'Arabah, 47, 52, 484, 507 n. 3, 657. 
'Arab-el 'Amarin, 9. 
Arabians, 282. 

Arabia, desert, 3 ; peninsula, 3 ; 

boundaries of Arabian world, 7 ; 

immigrations, 8 ; tribes, 8, 10. 
Arabia, Roman Province of, 623 ff. \ 

the Arabia of Paul, 547, 620 ; 

Christianity in, 632 ff. 
Arabs in Eastern Palestine, 525. 
Arad, 277 278. 
'Arak el Emir, 568. 
'Aram and David, 579 ; and Samaria. 

580; defeat of, 581 ; of Damascus, 

553- 

'Arbela, in Galilee, lrbid, 427. 

in Gilead, lrbid, 526, 536, 587. 

Archelais, 354. 

Architecture of the Decapolis, 602 ; 
roads, bridges, streets, 603 ; amphi- 
theatres and temples, 604, 605 ; 
Naumachia, a, 604 ; of Hauran, 
614, 629; its originality, 630, 
636. 

'Ard-el Betheniyeh, 553. 
Aretas, 184, 569/., 619/ 
'Argob, 551, 553. 
Aristobulus I., 414 n. 4. 
Armageddon, Battle of, 409. 



684 The Historical Geogr 



raphy of the Holy Land 



'Anion, the, 533, 535, 553 ; Israel's 
passage of, 557 ; as a frontier, 558. 
Aro'er, the Beersheba of the East, 
<57, 559- 

Arpha; in Eastern Palestine, 541 n. 
'Arrabeh, 327 n. I 
Arsuf, 129, 130, 164. 
Art of Syria, 23. 

'Ashdod, harbour of, 131 ; the town, 
192. 

Asia Minor and Syria, 22, 26 ; spread 
of Gospel to, 37. 

'Askalon, harbour of, 131 ; position 
of, 189 ; during the Crusades, 190. 

'Askar, 371 ff. See Sychar, 

Assyria, Empire of, 3 ; relation to 
Palestine, 6. 

Assyrians, their remains in Palestine, 
14 ; Sennacherib's campaign, 235 
ff. ; the Assyrian advance on Jeru- 
salem, 292 ; Siege of Samaria, 
347 ; in Galilee, 424, 430. 

Ataroth, 567 n. I, 568 «. 

Athi, a Nabatean deity, 628 /. 

Aumos, a Nabatean deity, 628 f. ; 
man's name, 629 n. 2. 

Auranitis, 541, 553. See Hauran. 

'Athlit, 130. 

Atabyrusj Mount, 22 n. 

'Aujeh, the river near Joppa, divides 
Sharon, 148; military value, 154; 
as a frontier between Samaria and 
Judah, 248 /. ; river near Jericho, 
as a frontier, 249. 

Avim, 174. 

'Awaj, river near Damascus, probably 

Pharpar, 642. 
'Ayun Musa, 564. 
Aziz, a Nabatean deity, 628. 
Azmaveth, 252. 
Azekah, 229 n. 1. 

Baalim, worship of, 474. 
Baal-Gad, 474. 
Baal-Hermon, 474 n. 
Baal-Judah. See Kirjath-Jearim. 
Baal-Me'on, 567 n. 1. 
Baal-Samin, 628. 
Baal-Shalisha, 351 n. 2. 
Baal-zebub, 193. 
Balaam, stations of, 565 / 
Balsam, 266, 487, 522 n. 6. 
Barada, the, 46, 642. 
Barak, 392 n. 6, 393 k 2. 



Bashan, 53, 549, 553 ; Israel in, 575/. 
Bashan, Hills of, 550. 
Batanea, 540/, 553. 
Bathyra, 618. 

Battles and Battle-fields of Arsuf, 154, 
156; in Ajalon, 210 ff.; Gezer, 
216/. ; Eben-ezer, 224; Elah, 227 
/. ; Mareshah, 233 ; Eltekeh, 236 n. 
I ; Bethsur, 288; in Benjamin, 290 
ff.; bet ween Absalom and David, 335 
n., 580; of Beisan or Pella, 359; of 
the Kishon, 394 ff.; Well of Harod, 
397 ff' i of Gilboa, 401 ff ; of 
Megiddo, 405 ff. ; Hattin, 441 ; 
on the Jordan, 491 ; of Siddim, 
506 ; of the Yarmuk, 589. 

Be er, 561. 

Be'er Lahai Roi, 283 n. 2. 
Be'eroth, 252. 

Beersheba, 284; meaning of the name, 
285 ; history of the place, 285. 

country south of, 280. 

Beisan, day of, 359. See Bethshan. 
Beit Atab, 222 ». 
Beit Dajun, 164. 
Beit Dejan, 332 n. 

Beit Jibrin, 231 ; and the Romans, 
231 ; and the crusades, 232. 

caves of, 242 ff. ; martyrs of, 

241^; ; churches, 244. 

Beit Iksa, 224 n, 2. 

Beit-Qubr, 267 n. 

Beit-Rima, 254 n. f. 

Bela or Zoar, 505. 

Belfort, 426 n. I. 

Belka', the, 535, 548, 553 ; climate 

of, 56, 520. 
Belvoir or Kaukab-el-Hawa,359, 408. 
Beni Humar, 9. 
Beni Jafn, 9, 627. 
Beni Mesaid, 526. 
Beni Sab, 9. 
Beni Saf, 9. 

Benjamin, territory of, 290. 
Berachah, 272. 
Berekeh in the Lejjah, 543. 
Bes'&nanim, 396 n. I. 
Betenoble, 214. 
Beth-abara, 496 n. I. 
Bethany, 306. 

beyond Jordan, 496 n. I ; 542. 

Beth-car, 224 n. 2. 

Beth-Dagon, 403 n. See Beit Dejan, 

Bethel, 119; as a frontier fortress, 



Index 



685 



2 5° ff'> 2 9° / 5 the incoming 
roads, 290 ; a stronghold of 
Samaria, 352. 

Beth-haram or Beth-haran, 488 n. 1. 

Beth-horons, Upper and Lower, 210 
254, 291. 

Beth-Jashan, 224 n. 2. 

Bethlehem, 119, 318 f. 

Bethsaida, 457/. 

Bethshan, 357 ff. ; or the key of 
Western Palestine, 358 ; a menace 
to Western Palestine, generally in 
foreign hands, 338 ; capture by 
Saladin, 359 ; a city of the De- 
capolis, 360. See also ch. xxviii.; 
on its names, 363. 

Beth-She 'arim, 425. 

Beth-shemesh, 193, 219; the ark, 224. 

Beth-shittah, 397 n. 1, 400. 

Bethsur, 288. 

Bethulia, a stronghold of Samaria, 
356. 

Beyrout and Damascus, 426, 642. 

Bezek, a stronghold of Samaria, 336 
n. 1, 354/ 

Bible, evidence of invasions of Pales- 
tine, 15 ; geographical accuracy of 
not necessarily proof of historical 
accuracy, 108 ; authenticity of Bible 
and geography, 109 f. 

Bithron, 586 n. 2. 

Blackmail, levied by David, 307 ; by 
Bedouin in Esdraelon, 384 ; in 
Eastern Palestine, 526 /. 

Boils and the Plague, 159. 

Bosra, 594, 601, 617, 621, 623^". 

Bozez, 250 n. 4. 

Busr el Hariri, 536, 618 n 1. 

Buttauf, 418 n 2. 

Oesarea, from Mount Ebal, 121, 
122; foundation and history, i^Sff. 

Philippi, foundation and history 

°f> 475 '> Jesus in the coasts of, 476. 

Callirrhoe, 571. 

Canaan, the name, ^f. 

Canary Isles, 25. 

Capernaum, 456 ; controversy as to 
site, id. n. 2 ; on the Via Maris, 
429. 

Caphtor. See Kaphtor. 

Carthage, foundation of, 24 ; fall of, 

25- 

Carmel, 50, 121, 122; passages by, 



150 ; Napoleon on these, 151 ; their 
historical effect, 152 ; description 
°f> 338 ff ; and Elijah, 340 ; view 
from, 340. 

Carmel in Judah, 306, 317 n. 

Casphon in Eastern Palestine, 589. 

Cavea Roob, 528, n. 2. 

Central or Western Range of Pales- 
tine, 47, 49, 50, 53, 119, 247, 279; 
watershed on, 48 ; modifications of, 
49 ; names of, 651 ff. 

Chateau d'Arnauld, 214. 

Chinnereth, 443, n. 1. 

Chittim. See Cyprus. 

Chorazin, 456. 

Chosroes II., 12, n. 4. 

Christianity, and the geography, 37, 
114 ff. ; and Paganism, 37, 188, 
241, 631-635; and Islam, 38, 1 14 
ff. ; in Lydda, 161 ; in the Philis- 
tine cities, 186, 187 /. ; in the 
Shephelah, 239 ff. ; in Bethshan, 
361 /. ; Esdraelon, 407 /; Eastern 
Palestine, 631 ff. ; in Syria to-day, 
its churches and missions, 40 /. 

Christians in Syria, persecution of, 
16, 38, 241/, 361, 632. 

Circassian colonies in Palestine, 11, 
20. 

Cities of the Plain, the, 505 ff. ; his- 
torical reality of their destruction, 
509. 

Climate, differences in, 56 ; (the rains, 
64, 76 ; hail and snow, 64 ; mists 
and dews, 65 ; drought, 65, 76 ; 
winds, 66 ; summer west wind, 66 ; 
Sirocco, 67 /; temperature, 69;) 
effect of, 72 ; not mechanically 
regular, 73 ; and Providence, 74 ; 
in Deuteronomy, 74 ; in Amos and 
Isaiah, 75 ; summer wells, 77. 

Coast, the, 127-144; in Scripture, 
132 ; in history, 133. 

Ccele-Syria, origin and history of the 
name, 538, 553. 

Coins, authorities on Syrian, 14. See 
also under the various towns, espe- 
cially Csesarea, Sebaste, Csesarea 
Philippi, Tiberias, the Decapolis, 
etc. 

Crete, 135, 170. See Caphtor. 
Crusades, 13; authorities on, 17; 

their impression on Syria, 17, 39; 

and the coast, 128; 'Athlit, 130; 



686 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Caesarea, 144 ; passage of Carmel, 
150 ; and St. George, 162/. ; in the 
Shephelah, 213 ff., 227, 232 /. ; in 
Samaria, 349, 352; on Esdraelon, 
359 /•> 408 ; Battle of Hattin, 440 
f. ; on the Upper Jordan, 480 ; at 
Zoar, 507, n. ; in Eastern Palestine, 
537> n - 3 » in Antioch and Damas- 
cus, 648. 

Crusaders and the population of 

Palestine, 10, 11. 
Cyprus, 22, 26 ; spread of Gospel to, 

37 ; ancient Chittim, 135. 

Dabaritta, 394, n. 2. 
Dagon and the Dragon of St. George, 
163, ff 

Damascus, spread of Faith to, 37 ; 
fall to Mohammedanism, 38 ; 
created by the Abana, 46, 642 ; its 
sea-ports, 426 ; and Israel, 579- 
582 ; in Decapolis, 599 ; and the 
Nabateans, 619; and the Romans, 
6l6, 617, n. 2, 620; chap. xxx. — 
antiquity of, 641 ; situation of, 
642 ; stability of, 643 ; approach 
to, 644 ; bazaars of, 646 ; and 
Antioch, 647 ; great roads /rom, 
647 ; religious significance of, 648. 

Dan, tribe of, in Vale of Sorek, 220 ; 
Tell-el-Kady or Banias, 473, 480 f. 

' Dan to Beersheba,' 285. 

Daphne or Tell-el-Kady, 473. 

Darom or Daroma, 52. 

Dathema, 5S8 /. 

David, in the Shephelah, 211, 215; 
in Adullam, 229 ; in Ke'ilah, 230 ; 
and Goliath, 227 ; in the wilderness 
of Judaea, 306 316 ; his dirge, 
404 ; in Eastern Palestine, 579 /. 

Dead Sea, the, chap, xxiii. — valley 
of, 261, 499 : saltness of, 500; 
beach of, 502 ; history on, 504 ; 
Ezekiel's vision of, 511 ; end of the 
Jordan, 46 ; Jordan valley at. 46. 

Debir, 279. 

Deborah, 392 ff. 

Deburieh, 394. 

Decapolis, the, chap, xxviii. — its 
origin and date, 595 ; an Anti- 
Semitic league, 596 ; geography of, 
597 \ 'region of,' 553, 601 ; archi- 
tecture of, 602 ; gods of, 605 ; con- 
stitution of, 605. tee also 594 ; 



borders of, 601 ; Greek literature 
in, 607 ; and the Gospels, 607 ; 
intercourse between, and Tews, 
608. 

Deir Aban, 224, n. 2. 
Deir Dubban, 244. 
Deir-el-Bedawiyeh, 244. 
Deir-el-Botur, 244. 
Deir-el-Hawa, 219, n. 1. 
Deir-el-Mohallis, 244. 
Dews, 65. 

Dibon or Daibon, 560 /., 568 n. I. 
Dion of the Decapolis, 593, 598, 599. 
Diospolis. See Lydda. 
Dirge on death of Saul and Jonathan, 

404/. 
D'mer, 623, n. 4. 
Docus. See Duk. 

Dor or Dora, 129 n. 2, 130, 389/., 
465 n. 2. 

Dothan, Plain of, 151 ; stronghold 

of Samaria, 356. 
Drought, 65, 76. 
Duk or Docus, 250 n. 2. 
Du Sara, a Nabatean deity, 628. 

Eastern Palestine, chaps, xxiv.-xxx. 
— plateau of, 519; health of, 520; 
waters of, 521 ; fertility of, 522 ; 
pastures and herds of, 523 ; ex- 
posure to desert, 525 ; a land oi 
opulence and insecurity, 527; under- 
ground cities of, 528 ; Greeks and 
Romans in, 530 ; divisions and 
names of, chap. xxv. ; dividing 
rivers of, 533 ; natural divisions of, 
534 ; divisions and names of to- 
^ a y> 535 ff- \ divisions and names 
of Greek Period, the time of Christ, 
538 ff. ; divisions and names in Old 
Testament times, 548 ff. ; compara- 
tive table of, 553 ; and Israel, 
chaps, xxvi.-xxvii. ; under David 
and Solomon, 579 ; Maccabees and, 
588 ; under Alexander Janneus, 
589 ; under the Romans, chaps, 
xxviii. -xxix. ; Greek settlements in, 
593- 

Eastern Range, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 
chap. xxiv. ; 534, 550, 562. 

Eben-ezer, 224. 

Edh-Dhaheriyah, 279 /. 

Edrei, under ground, 528 n. 2, 576, 
601. 



Index 



687 



Eglon, the place, 202 n. 1, 234; the 

king, 274 n. 
Egypt, centre of empire, 6, 8 ; home 

of plague, 157 ff. 
Ekron, 193, 218. 
El-Ahma Plain, 440 n. I. 
Elah, Vale of, 226 ff. 
El-burj, 214 n. 1. 
Elealeh, 567 n. 1. 
Eleazar or Eleasar, 422 515/. 
Eleutheropolis. See Beit Gibrin, 231. 
El-Ghuta, 553, 643. 
El-Jib. See Gibeah. 
Elijah the Tishbite, 27, 340, 435, 

m> 5 8 °- 

Elisha, 582. 
Elkesites, 632 n. i. 
El-Mushennef, 619 n. 4. 
Eltekeh, 236. 
El Yemen, 4. 

Emmaus, Amwas in Shephelah, 214. 

at Tiberias, 450. 

En-Nukra, 536 /., 553. 

Engedi, 269 /., 512. 

Ephraim, Mount, 53, 121, 652, chap, 
xvi. , xvii. ; forest of, 335 n. 2 ; 
city of. See Taiyibeh. 

Ephrath, Ephrata, 318, 319 n. 

Es-Salt. See Salt. 

Esdraelon, Plain of, 49, 50, 52, 54, 
I2I > 379 > an( l Samaria, ch. xix ; 
three sections of, 380 ; names of 
the plain, 384 ; and Sharon, 388 ; 
fortresses of, 389 ; gateways of, 
390 ; history of, 391 ; Saul and Phi- 
listines on, 400 ff. ; pageant of, 
406 ; Syrians on, 406 ; Romans on, 
407, 410; Early Christians on, 407; 
Moslems on, 407, 408 ; Crusades 
on, 408 ; Napoleon on, 409. 

'Eshtaol, 218. 

'Eshtemoa, 317 n. 

Esh-Sham, 3. 

Es-Su'et, 528 n. 2, 537 n. 3. 
Es-Sunamein, inscriptions, 623, 630. 
Ethiopia, 8 ; Ethiopians, 12. 
Euphrates, 3, 6, 7, 534, 642. 
Europe, present influence upon Syria, 

European settlements in Syria, 16, 
17. 

Ezekiel, Vision of Dead Sea, 511. 
Fen1sh = Philistine, 170 «. 



Ferata, 329 n. 3, 351 n. 2. 

Fer'on, a stronghold of Samaria, 350. 

Fertility of Palestine, 76 ; effect on 
nomads, 85 ; religious conse- 
quences of, 88 ; civilising conse- 
quences of, 85. 

Feshkah, 263, 265, 277 ; and Pisgah, 
546 

Feudal kingdom ot Jerusalem, 17, 123. 
' Field, The,' 80. 
Fik, 427, 581 n. I. 
Filistin, name, 4. 

Fords of Jordan ; at Jericho, 266 ; in 
Ephraim, 337 ; in general, 486 ; 
near Beisan, 486 n. 1. 

Forests, 80, 148 ; in Gilead, 522. 

Fortresses of Samaria, 345 ff. 

Fourbelet, or Afarbala, 360 n. 1. 

Frontiers between Judaea and Samaria, 
natural, 248 ; political, 250 ; from 
721 B.C. to the Exile, 252 5 after the 
Exile, 253; under the Maccabees, 
255 ; under the Romans, 255 ; in 
the time of Christ, 256. 

in Eastern Palestine, chap. 

XXV. 

Fuleh, 401, 406 n. 5. 
Fureidis, 319 n. 



Gabinius, 129 n. 1. 
Gadara, 459 ff., 593, 597, 599,602, 
617. 

Gad and Reuben, 566. 
Galil, 413, 415. 

Galilee, ch. xx., its name, 413 ; of the 
Gentiles, 413 ; of the Jews, 414 ; 
boundaries of, 415 ; divisions of, 
416; and the Lebanons, 417; 
water of, 418; fertility of, 419; 
trees in, 419; culture of, 420; popu- 
lation of, 420 ; volcanic elements 
in, 421 ; political geography of, 
422 ; history of, 423 / ; roads of, 
42$ ff.; 'way of the sea,' 428; envi- 
ronment of, 431 ; lake of, chap, 
xxi. ; features of, 439. See Lake of 
Galilee. 

Gamala, 459, 590. 

Gaulanitis, 541, 553. 

Gath, 194; site of, 195/. 

Gaza, 181 ff; and the Desert, 1827 
and Egypt, 184; and Israel, 185; 
1 which is desert,' 186 ; and Christi 



688 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



anity, 187 (occupied by Alexander, 

184 ; by Napoleon, 184). 
Gazara. See Gezer. 
Geba, a stronghold of Samaria, 356. 
Gennesaret, origin of the name, 443 

n. I. 

Geographical accuracy of Bible, 107 ; 

and historical accuracy, 108 ; and 

faith, 107/". 
Geography and biblical narratives, 

108, 276. 

Geography and Stade's theories, 274/. 
Geography and moral forces, 113, 134. 
Gerasa, 594, 598, 599, 602, 604 ff. 
Gergesa, 459. 

Gerizim, 119, 120, 334. See also 

chap, xviii. ; not Moriah, 334 n. 2. 
Geshur, 548 n. 9, 553. 
Gezer, or Gazar, 215 /.; or Mont 

Gisart, 217. 
Ghabaghib, 65, 520 n. 7. 
Ghassanides, 9, 627. See Beni Jafn. 
Ghor, the, 47, 54, 482 ; divisions and 

names of, 4S2 ; fertility of, 483 ; 

limits of, 507 n. 3. 
Ghuta, 643^ 
Gibbethon, 351. 
Gibeon, 250 ff, 210 n. 2. 
Gideon on Esdraelon, 397. 
Gilead, the name and territory, 548 

/. ; history and characteristics, chap, 

xxvii. ; Israel's proper territory, 577; 

and early history of Israel, 579 ; 

captivity of, 582 ; in the Prophets, 

582 ; uncertainty of ancient sites, 

583 ff.; later historical sites in, 587. 
Gilead, Mount, 48, 53 / , 549, etc. 
Gilgal, near Jericho, 276 f.\ the 

stronghold of Samaria, 352, 494 
n. 2 ; a place-name on Sharon, 
351 n. 2. 
Gimzo, 202 n. 

Golan, the town, 553. See Sahem 
ej - Jaulan ; Golan district. See 
Jaulan. 

Gomorrah, 505 /. ; overthrow of, 508. 
Gophna, a stronghold of Samaria, 

351 ; roads, 21 1, 290. 
Gospel, first spread of the, 37. 
Grain in Syria, 83 ; in Hauran, 612/ 
Greece and Palestine contrasted, 133 
Greece over Jordan, chap, xxviii.; 

the Decapolis, settlements over 

Jordan, 593. 



Greeks, 10 ; region covered by, 55 ; 
beginning of their immigration with 
Alexander, 593. 

Greek Church in Syria, 39 n. 

Greek cities, enfranchised by Pompey, 
594 ; rights of, under Rome, 594 ; 
administration of, 595 ; confeder- 
acies of, 595. See Hellenism. 

Hadad-rimmon, 389, 400. 
Hadid, 160. 
Hail, 64. 
Hammath, 450. 
Hajj road, 45, 537, 647/., etc 
Half-Gilead, 548, 553. 
Ha-Mishor, 53, 548, 553. 
Hannibal, meaning of name, 24 ; the 

Great, 25. 
Hamilcar crossed Straits of Gibraltar, 

24. 

Harbours of Syria, 128 ff.; of Da- 
mascus, 426. 
Harithiyeh or Harosheth, 393. 
Harod, well of, 397 /. 
Harosheth, 393. 

Hasmoneansin Moab, 568; in Gilead, 

Hattin, battle of, 441. 

Hauran, 536, 552 ; larger, 536 \ 
proper, 536, 553 ; Mutasseraflik of, 
553; (Ezekiel),_ 552 /.; and its 
cities, chap, xxix; civilisation of 
Hauran and Decapolis, 611; descrip- 
tion of, 612 ; its harvests, 612 ; its 
treelessness, 613 ; its black cities, 
614; andHermon.615; comingofthe 
Romans to, 616 ; Herod the Great 
in, 617 ; history of, 618 ; Philip 
the Tetrarch, 618 ; Herod Agrippa, 
619; conversion of St. Paul, 619; 
interval of Roman rule, 621 ; 
Agrippa II., 622 ; the new Province 
of Arabia, 623 ; Roman civilisation 
in, 624 ff.; Roman roads in, 626; 
Roman frontier, 626 ; Semitic 
elements in, 627 ; Nabatean deities 
in, 628 ; architecture of, 629; early 
Christianity in, 38, 631 ; origin and 
the Synod of Bosra, 632 ; persecu- 
tions and martyrs, 632 ; triumph of 
Christ in, 633 ; contrast of Pagan 
and Christian inscriptions in, 38, 
634 ; epitaphs in, 635 ; dioceses of 
the church, 636 ; churches and 



Index 



689 



other buildings in, 636 ; overthrow 

of Christianity in, 637. 
Havoth-Jair, 551 /., 577 n. 
Hazezon-Tamar, 271, 506 /. 
Hazor, 393, 423. 
Hebron, 119, 231, 271 /., 317. 
Hellenism, at home in Syria, 16 ; and 

Israel, 34 ; in time of Christ, 35 ; 

in Philistia, 179, 188, 192 ; and 

Christianity, chap, xi.; in Eastern 

Palestine, chap, xxviii./. 
Herod the Great in Western Palestine, 

138 / 165, 192 n. 2,266 n. 4, 293, 

348#, 353,/. 490, 5 I2 > 5I4/.J in 

Eastern Palestine, 488, 569, 595, 

617, 618. 
Herod Agrippa. See Agrippa I. 
Herod Antipas, and Tiberias, 448 ; 

and Machaerus, 569 ; murder of 

John Baptist, 570. 
Herodium, 273. 

Hermon, 121 ; plural name Hermons, 
476 /, n. 1 ; and the Iturseans, 
544 f. ; and the ' Mount of Bashan, ' 
550 ; and Hauran, 615 ; and Da- 
mascus, 642. See Appendix I. 

Heshbon or Essebon, 571. 

Hilarion, 239 n. 1, 240 n. 5, etc. 

' Hill -country,' 53. 

Hippos, 459, 594, 597, 599, 602. 

Historical geography of Syria, sum- 
mary of, 5. 

Hittites, 10, 12, 14, 

Hivites, 58, 59. 

Homoncea, 455 n. 3. 

Horites, 221 n. 3. 

Huleh, 481. 

Idumuea, 239 /. 
Idumaeans, 9. 

Immigrations, 1; Arabian, 8 ; Syrian, 
Philistine, Hebrew, 9 ; Greek, 593. 

Incarnation, the, 114. 

Inscriptions, authorities upon, 15 n. 
1 ; Greek and Latin in Eastern 
Palestine, chaps, xxviii., xxix. ; Na- 
batean, chap. xxix. 

Invasions, of Syria, 6, 7, 12, 13, 128 ; 
their main directions, 6 ; value of, 
13 ; ceaselessness, 9 ; impressions 
on monuments, 13, 14; in litera- 
ture, 14 ; of Eastern Palestine, 

525/". 
Irbid. See Arbela. 



Isaac, sacrifice of, 334 n. 2. 

Islands of Mediterranean, 22 ; spread 
of gospel to, 37. 

• Isles, the,' 135/: 

Israel's, origin and calling, 82 ff. ; in 
the desert and in Syria, 85 ; in- 
vasion of Eastern Palestine, chap, 
xxvi.; passage of the Anion, 557 ; 
war against Sihon, 560 ; passage of 
' the Plateau,' 561 ; war with 
Midian, 566 ; war with Og, 575/; 
crossing of Jordan, 275 /; settle- 
ment on Western Palestine, 277^; ; 
relations to Philistia, 175 ; to 
Phoenicia, 26 ; uniqueness of her 
Monotheism, 30 ; its reason, 32 ; 
revelation, 33 ; relations with Hel- 
lenism, 34, chaps, xxviii., xxix.; 
Israel in Gilead and Bashan, chap, 
xxvii. 

Issachar, blessing of, 383. 
Isthmus of Suez, 7, 8. 
Iturseans, 544 2^ 
Ituraea, 544. 

Jabbok, 121, 533/., 535, 539, 583. 

Jabneh orjabniel, 193. 

Jaffa. See Joppa. 

Jacob's Well, 123, 334, chap, xviii. 

Jahalin Arabs, 273 etc. 

Jahaz, 559. 

Jarmuk. See Yarmuk. 

Jarmuth, 202 n. I. 

Jaulan, 444 n. 2, 536, 553. 

Javan, 136. 

Jebel 'Aswad, 533. 

Jebel es Sih, 416 n. 3. 

Jebel Hauran or Druz, 534, 536 f. 
553. 613 619, etc. 

Jebel Jela'ad, 54. 

Jebel Usdum, 507, 514. 

Jedur, 427, 544. 

Jelil, 175 n. See 413 and 415. 

Jenin, 356, 374, 38i# 

Jerusalem, 1 19/ ; approaches to, 161, 
205, 210 ff. t 218, 226/., 263/:, 
2 9° ff-\ military strength, 297, 
302 ; not a natural site for a great 
city, 319; her greatness, 320; fall of, 
to the Romans, 299; to Mohamme- 
danism, 38, 299 ; modern pilgrims 
to, 39 ; disfigurement of modern, 
40 ; Latin kingdom of, 17, 123. 

Jeruel, wilderness of, 272. 



2 



X 



6qo The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



jerahmeelites, 278 n., 286. 
Jeremiah and the desert, 315. 
Jericho, 266 ff. 

Jesus Christ, Hellenism of the age in 
which He lived, 35 ; His judgment 
of Israel, 36 ; His claims for Him- 
self, 36; His views of Gentile 
world, 36 ; His gospel, 36 ; and the 
worship of Augustus, 478; chaps, 
xx. xxi. 

Jeshimon, 513. 

Jezreel, 356 ; view from, 381 ; Vale 

of, 53. 384. 
Jezebel, 27. 

Jisr- Benat Yakob Bridge of the daugh- 
ters of Jacob, 427, 429 492 n. I. 

Jisr-el-Mujamia, 428 n. 

Jogbehah and Succoth, 585. 

John Hyrcanus in Samaria, 347 n. 6 ; 
Bethshan, 358 n. 2 ; conquest of 
Galilee, 414. 

John the. Baptist, murder of, 570. 

Jonathan, son of Saul, 291, 403 jT". 

Jonathan Maccabeus, 291, 423, 514. 

Joppa, 121, 136 ff.', and the Macca- 
bees, 136. 

Jordan, the, 47, 121 ; natural unique- 
ness of, 467 ; historical uniqueness 
of, 467 ; sources of upper, 471 ; 
military history of upper, 479 ; the 
pride of, 484 ; the river-bed, 485 ; 
in the Old Testament, 421 ; as a 
military frontier, 491 ; Elijah and 
Elisha on, 493 ; John the Baptist 
on, 495 ; fords of, 337 ; over Jor- 
dan, chap. xxiv. 

Jordan Valley, 5, 8, 46, 54, chap, 
xxii. ; formation of, 469 ; divisions 
of, 471; the upper, 471 ; the lower, 
482 ; fertility and population of, 
487 ; heat of, 489 ; wild beasts of, 
490 ; the Arabs in, 490. 

Joshua, historical reality of, 274 n. 1. 
See Appendix II. ; in the Shephelah, 
215 ; with Ephraim and Manasseh, 
577 n. 1. 

Judah, mount, 53 ; entrance into 
land, 277 ; and the Canaanites, 
289. 

Judsea, 4 ; borders and bulwarks of, 
chap. xiii. ; seclusion of, 259 ; 
smallness of, 260; her borders, 
261 ; and Moab, a contrast, 262 ; 
wilderness of, 263 ; western defiles, 



287 ; invaders of, 288 ; westers 
boundary of, 286 ; northern border, 
289 ; as a frontier, 290 ; fortresses 
of, 291 ; invasions of, 291 ; real 
strength of, 297 ; not impregnable 
but insular, 297; difficult to occupy, 
298 ; tactics of Vespasian and 
Saladin, 298 j moral effects of 
position of, 299; illustrated from the 
Prophets and Psalms, 300 ; table- 
land, 305 ; featurelessness of, 307 ; 
Old Testament pictures of, 308 ; a 
land of shepherds, 310; neighbour 
to the desert, 312 ; wilderness of, 
313 ; wilderness of, as a refuge, 316 ; 
unfitness for growth of a city, 317 ; 
John the Baptist in, 317 ; our Lord 
in, 317 ; no great roads in, 319. 

Judaea and Samaria, their frontier, 
247 ff.', a contrast, 323. 

Judaea and Galilee contrasted, 418. 

Judas, the Galilean, 421 n. 6. 

Judas Maccabeus in the Shephelah, 
215 f.\ in Bethshan, 358 ; in 
Eastern Palestine, 588 /, 599. 

Jufna. See Gophna. 

Julias, Bethsaida-Julias, 457. 

Julias, or Beth-Haram, 488. 



Kakon, on the Maritime Plain, 154; 
Napoleon's battle there, id. ; a 
stronghold of Samaria, 350. 

Kanata, 600. 

Kanatha, 599, 600 n. 2, 602. 
Kaphtor, or Crete, 135 ; not the 

Delta, 170, 198 ; original seat of 

Philistines, 170 /., with notes; 

according to some, eastern coast of 

iEgean, 198. 
Kapitolias, 600. 
Kaphethra, 299 n. 
Kedemoth, wilderness of, 559* 
Kefar Hananyah or Kefr Anan, 

417 n. 
Kefr Outheni, 256, n. I. 
Kefr Saba, 154, 165. 
Ke'ilah, 230. 

Kenites, 277, 281, n. 6, 393. 
Kephar-Nahum, 456, n. 2. 
Kepherabis, 299 it. 
Kerak on Lake of Galilee, 452 ff. 
Kerak or Krak, in Moab, 537, «. 3. 
Khan el Ahmar, 265. 



Index 69 1 



Khan-Minyeh, origin and meaning 
of name, 456, n, 1 ; probably 
Capernaum, 456. 

Kharitun, 229, n. I. 

Kharesmians, the, 12, n. 6. 

Kikkar of the Jordan, 505. 

Kiriath Jearim, 225; Baal-Judab, 
276, 317. 

Kiriathaim, in Moab, 567, n. 1 ; 568, 
n. 1. 

Kishon, 382, 387 388 n. ; battle 

of, 394- 
Kition, 22 135. 

Korea or Kuriyat, a stronghold of 

Samaria, 352^ 
Kuamon, 406. 
Kuneitra, 427, n. I., 536. 
Kurds in Syria, 1 1 ; in Lebanon and 

Damascus, 647. 
Kypros, 267 «. 



Labrush, Khurbet, 506, n. 6. 
Lachish, 234. 

Lake of Galilee, the, chap. xxi. ; the 
focus of the province, 439 ; way 
down to, 440 ; atmosphere of, 441 ; 
functions of, 442 ; shape of, 443 ; 
aspect of (to-day), 445 ; aspect of 
(in our Lord's time), 446 ; cities 
round, 447 ; Jordan valley at, 46. 

Lake Huleh, 481 ; Jordan valley at, 
46. 

Land of Tob, the, 587. 
Latrun or Turon, 214. 
Lebanons, focus of Syria, 45 ; refuge 

of Christians, 38 ; rivers of, 46 ; 

mountain ranges of, 47 ; distinct 

from Galilee, 55, 50, 642. 
Lebanon and Galilee, 417. 
Legio, 407. See Lejjun. 
Leja, 528, n. 2, 537 ; equal to 

Trachon, 543; not Argob, 551, 

553 ; description of, 615/; history, 

Lejjun, 151, 380, 386; and Megiddo, 
387, n. I. ; Josiah's defeat, 405/.; 
and the Romans, 407 ; and the 
Crusaders, 386. 

Limen and El Mineh, 129. 

Levant, 3, 7, 45. 

Lezka, Kh., 236 n. 

Litany, 46. 

Livias, 488 n. See Julias in Perea. 



Lydda, 160 ff. 

Lysanias, tetrarchy of, 547. 



Ma'achah, 548 n. 9, 553. 
Maccabees, devotion to the law, 34 ; 

conflict with Hellenism, 34, 179; 

in the Shephelah, 212 /..; and the 

Samaritans, 254 ; in Jericho, 268 ; 

in the western defiles of Judah, 

288 ; in Benjamin, 291; /. ; in 

Samaria, 347 ; in Esdraelon, 407 ; 

in Galilee, 423 ; on Jordan, 491 ; 

on Masada, 514; in Moab, 568; 

in Gilead and Bashan, 588 /. 
Machserus, fortress of, 569 ; and the 

Herods, 569 ; and John's murder, 

570. 

Machir, 392 n. 4. 
Ma'en, 183, 214. 

Magdala, 456 ; is it Taricheae ? 452 

n. 1. 
Maged, 589. 
Mahanaim, 335 586. 
Makkedah, 211 n. I. 
Maksurah, 623 n. 4. 
Manasseh, half-tribe of, 577 ; their 

settlement in Eastern Palestine, 

577 «• 1. 
Maon, 306, 317. 
Mareshah, 233. 

Maritime Plain, the, 49, 50; or 
Daroma, 52, 148, 54, 55, ch. viii. ; 
its beauty, 149 ; openness to south, 
149 ; to north, 150 ff.\ its roads, 
153; defences, 154; campaigns, 
155 ; openness to plague, 157 ; its 
cities, 160 ff. 

Marna, 180, 188. 

Marneion, or House of Marna, 187. 
Maronites, 39 n. 

Masada, 273, 512 ff. ; position of, 
512; history of, 514; buildings 
on, 514 ; massacre of, 515. 

Maspha, 589. 

Mattanah, 561. 

Mecca, 647 /. 

Medeba, 567 n. 5 ; plateau of, 548. 

Mediterranean, Syria's gateway to 
the west, 6, 2 1 ; islands and coasts 
of, 22, 135, 170 tin. 3 and 4 ; and 
Damascus, 426, 643 ; and Galilee, 
428, 429. 

Megiddo town, 386 ; Lejjun and not 



692 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Mujedda, 387 «. 1 ; battle of, 406 ; 

plain of, 53, 385 ; waters of, 386. 
Mejdel. See Magdala. 
Melchites or Greek Catholics, 40 tt. 
Mellaha, 454 «. 1. 
Merla or La Merle, 130. 
Merj el Ghuruk, 327. 
Mesha and 'the Moabite Stone,' 

567- 
Meshech, 136. 

Michmash, 178 n. r, 250, 291. 

Midianites, 8, 9 ; in Samaria, 329 ; 
in Esdraelon, 385, 397 ff; in East- 
ern Palestine. 525, 566; Gideon's 
pursuit of, 579, 585. 

Mirabel, 214. 

Mishor, the, 53, 548, 553. 

Missions and Mohammedanism, 41 ; 
in Syria, 39, 40, 41. 

Mizar or Mis-'ar, 476. 

Mists, 65 ; frequency of morning 
mists in Eastern Palestine, 520. 

Mizpeh or Neby Samwil, 120. 

Mizpeh of Gilead, 586, 589. 

Moab and the coming of Israel, chap, 
xxvi. ; mountain table-land of, 48, 
53, 548 ; Hasmoneans in, 568. 

Moabite Stone, the, geography of, 
567. 

Modein, 212. 

Mohammedanism, rise of, 38 ; and 
Christianity, 38, 115; and modern 
missions, 41 ; extension in Eastern 
Palestine, 637 ; to Damascus, 648. 

Monotheism, not natural to Semites. 
29 ; opportunity for, among Semites, 
30; uniqueness of Israel's, 30; 
reason of, 32 ; marvel of, 90, 113. 

Mons Aseldamus, 550, 553. 

Mont Gisard, 214/. 

Moses, wells of, 564 ; burial of, 565. 

Mount Bashan, 550. 

Mount Ebal, view from, chap. vi. ; 
central position. 332; mentioned in 
Deuteronomy as central sanctuary, 
333/- 

Mount Ephralm, 47, 53, 247, 325, 
652, 653 ; western flank of, 326 ; 
eastern flank of. 326 ; central plains 
of, 327. 

Mount Gilboa, 397 n. 2; battle of, 
402 ff. 

Mount Gilead, 48, 53, 521, 549; 
history, chap, xxvii. 



Mount Hermon, head of Eastern 

range, 48. See Hermon. 
Mount Judah, 53, 652. 

Naphtali, 53, 652. 

of the Amorite, 53, 652. 

of the 'Abarim, 53, 653. 

Atabyrus, 22 n. 

— Tabor, 394, 408 ; and Hermon, 

417- 

Taurus, 3, 7, 12, 45 ; a barrier, 

21. 

Mountains, 47 ; central range, 48 ; 
eastern range , 48 ; Druz moun- 
tain, or Jebel Druz, 48, 55 ; of 
the 'Abarim, 53 ; and plain, 53. 

Mukbalid, 130 n. 3. 

Mukhneh, the plain, 327. 

Musmieh. See Phaena in the Lejjah. 

Nabateans and Gaza, 184; their 
territory, 547, 620/., 623; con- 
quer Moab, 568 ; relations to Mac- 
cabees, 568 n. 4; to Herod Antipas, 
569 ; to Decapolis, 596 ; to 
Hauran, 616 ff. ; to Damascus, 
619; to Philip's tetrarchy, 619; 
to kingdom of Agrippas, 621 f. ; 
their inscriptions, 621, 624; their 
deities, 628 ; their conquest by 
Rome, 623. 

Nablus, 119, 120; Shechem, 332/., 
345/ ; not Sychar, 368 ff. ; seat of 
government for the Belka', 535. 

Xahaliel, 561. 

Naphtali, 53, 392, 420, 422, 424. 
See Mount Naphtali. 

Napoleon, invasion of Syria, 13, 19 ; 
on the geographical accuracy of the 
Bible, 107, 1 54 j captures Gaza, 184 ; 
passage of Carmel, 1 50 ff. , 389 ; 
description of Carmel and its mili- 
tary value, 150 /. ; march over 
Sharon, 154, 156 ; attacked hereby 
the plague, 158, 159 n. 1 ; victory 
of Mount Tabor, 305/. ; retreat from 
Esdraelon, 409. 

Native churches in Syria, 39 n. 

Nazareth, 432 ; central position of, 
432 ; boyhood of Jesus at, 433. 

Nebaioth, probably the same as 
Nabateans, 547 n. 2. 

Nebo, Mount, and Pisgah, 564^,567. 

Nebo, Town, 564 n. I, 567 n. I, 
S6S h. 1. 



Index 



693 



Neby Musa, 265 n 3. 

Neby Samwil, 120. 

Negeb, the, 49, 50, 52, 278 ff. ; the 
name, 278 ; as a frontier, 281 ; its 
main road, 282 ; its towns, 285/. 

Nero, coin of, for Csesarea Philippi, 
475/- 

Neronias, title of Csesarea Philippi, 
475- 

Nile, 6 ; compared and contrasted 
with Jordan, 467 ff. ; effect of Nile 
mud on Syrian coast, 128. 

Nob, 253 n. 4. 

Nobah, north-east of Heshbon, 560 
n. 3. 

who took Kanatha, 579 n. 3. 

Nysa, 363. 

Og, King of Bashan, 575. 

Olive, cultivation of, 81 /. ; in 

Galilee, 419. 
Ono, 160, 253. 
'Ophni. See Gophna. 
Origen's two visits to the East of 

Jordan, Synod of Bosra, 632. 
Orontes, 46 ; contrasted with Jordan, 

493- 
Oshah, 425. 

Oultre-Jourdain, 537 n. 3, 553. 
Over-Jordan, 553. 

Palestine, history of the name, 3/. ; 
a sanctuary, 112; an observatory, 
112 ; a land of tribes, 58 ; size of, 
123 ; and Greece, 133 ; Eastern, 
ch. xxiv.-xxx. 

Palaistine, 4. 

Palmer, 507 n. 

Pan, worship of, 474 ; coins of, 475. 
Paneas, 473. 

to Dan, 480, 

Parthians, 12, 514. 
Pelesheth, 169 n. t, 52. 
Pella, 593, 597, 599, 602. 
Penuel, 585. 

Peraea, 539, 553 ; Jesus in, 540. 
Persian Gulf, 7. 

Persian invasion of Palestine, 12. 
Phaena or Musmieh, in the Lejjah, 
5 2 9- 

Philadelphia, 593, 598, 599, 602, 605. 

Philistia, 4, 52, ch. ix. ; relations of 
Israel and, 175 ; Greek influence 
upon, 179 ; in Christian times, 180. 



Philistine cities, ch. ix., 181 ff.; their 
league, 169. 

Philistines, 10, 55, ch. ix.; name and 
origin, 169 ff., 197 n. ; language, 
172; religion, 173; appearance in 
Canaan, 173; contact with Israel, 
175 ; parallel between them and 
Israelites, 175 ; difference, 176. 

Philip the Tetrarch, 475, 618 /. 

Philip, tetrarchy of, 540, 553, 618. 

Philoteria, 455. 

Phoenicia, 5 ; Israel and, 26, 127 ff. 

Phoenician voyages, 22, 25, 27 ; 
emigrations, 23, 24; under the 
Romans, 25 ; Greek loan-words, 
23 n. 

Pilgrims, literature, 18 ; and traders, 
18 ; use of railroad, 20 ; 407. 

Pisgah and Nebo, 562 ; the name, 
564 n. 1 ; connection with Feshkah, 
564 n. 1. 

Plague, the, in Palestine, 157 ff. ; 

origin in Egypt, 157 ff. ; historical 

instances, 157 ff. 
Plain, cities of the, 505^ 
Plains, 54. 

Plans, fortress of, 214. 

Plateau, the, Israel's passage of, 

561 ; the edge of, 562. 
Pompey, 13 ; capture of Jericho, 268; 

capture of Jerusalem, 292 ; advance 

through Samaria, 292, 353 n. 5 ; 

in Damascus, 590, 616 ; and 

Decapolis, 594, 596, 606. 
Population of Syria, 8 ; tribal, 8; 

Semitic, 10. 
Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza, 181. 
Protestant Missions, 40 n. 
Ptolemies, wars of, 13 ; records left 

by, 14, 184 n. 3, 347, 407, 414. 
Ptolemais or Acre, 380, 414 «. 2, 

424, 433, 608. 
Ptolemy Lathurus, 414 n. 4. 

Rabbath-Ammon, 20 n. 2, 593. 

See Philadelphia. 
Rafia, 149. 

Railway, lines of, 20 ; up Sorek, 281 ; 

across Esdraelon, 390 2, 668. 
Rains and rainfall in Palestine, 63^". ; 

early and latter rains, 64 ; rains in 

the Negeb, 68 ; rainfall at Jerusalem 

and Nazareth, 76 n. 
Rakkath, 447. 



694 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Ramah, in Mount Ephraim, 254 n. 7. 
Ramath-Mizpeh and Ramoth-Gilead, 
586. 

Ramathaim, 254 n. 7. 
Rameh, 416 n. 3. 
Rametha, 588 ff. 
Ramleh, 165. 

Ramoth-Gilead and Ramath-Mizpeh, 

586. 
Raphana, 599. 

Records, literature, 13 ; monuments, 
13; coins, 15; Egyptian and 
Assyrian, 14 ; of Antiochi and 
Ptolemies, 14 ; Greek and Roman, 
14 ; early Christian, 16. 

Red Sea, 7. 

Remtheh, 587. 

Renan's Thesis about Monotheism, 30. 
Rephaim, Vale of, 218. 
Reseph, 129 nn. 1 and 3. 
Revelation in the Old Testament, 33. 
Reuben and Gad, their territories, 
566. 

Rhodes, 22, 135. 

Richard 1. of England, passage of 
Carmel, 150 ; at Caesarea, 144 ; on 
the coast, 128; at Lydda, 163; in 
the Shephelah, 213^., 227, 234/. 

Roads, Roman, 232, 626 ; of the 
Maritime Plain, 149-154; in Judaea, 
265 ff.; fromjericho, 264; from 'Ain 
Feshkah, 265 ; from Engedi, 269,. 
271 ; in Negeb, 282 ; in Samaria, 
351 ; by Sychar, 374 ; in Esdrae- 
lon, 388 ff. ; of Galilee, 425 ; their 
routes, 426 ; Way of the Sea, 428 ; 
Great South Road, 429; Great East 
Road, 430 ; and parables of Jesus, 
430; in Eastern Palestine, ^97 ff, 
626. 

Rodan and Rodanim. See Rhodes. 

Romans, tactics of, in Palestine, 55, 
298; power of, 515; organisation 
of the frontier, 623-628. See Roads. 

Romish Missions in Syria, 40. 

Rubin river, in Philistia, 128 11. 1, 
131 ; harbour, 131. 

Ruwalla, the, 10. 

Sahem-ej-Jaulan, 536. 

Saladin, 154, 209, 213/:, 217, 293, 

299. 359. 
Salkhat, 619, 626, 629, 637. 
Salt, 308 536; the Crusaders, 



538 n. ; probably an ancient site, 
587., 

Samaria, the Province and Kingdom, 
contrast to Judaea, 323 ; their 
frontier, 247 ff. ; historical memories 
of, 324 ; borders of, 324; openness 
of, 328 ; chariot-driving in, 329 ; 
precocity of, 331 ; central position 
of, 332 ; connection with Eastern 
Palestine, 335 ; connection with 
Carmel, 337 ; fortresses of, 341, 
345 ff- '> roads of > 351 J western 
strongholds in, 350 ; southern 
strongholds in, 350; eastern frontier 
of, 354 ; eastern fortresses of, 354 ; 
northern fortresses of, 355. 

Samaria, city of, 122 ; site and name, 
346 ; its sieges, 347 ; the city of 
Ahab and Herod, 348 ff. 

Samson, 220 ff. 

S'asa, 427 n. 

Saul, and Philistines on Esdraelon, 
400 ff. ; death, 403 ; elegy on, 404 f. 

Scenery of Palestine, picturesqueness 
of, 93 ; reflection in Israel's litera- 
ture, 96 to 104. 

Scilly Isles, 25. 

Scythopolis. See Bethshan, 361, 597, 
599, 602 ; origin of name, 363/. 

Sebaste. See Samaria, city of. 

Segor or Zoar, 507 n. 

Seigneurie of Krak and Montreal^ 
537 n. 

Seleucids, wars, 13 ; on the Maritime 
Plain, 154; in Judaea, 268, 288; 
in Samaria, 347 ; on Esdraelon, 
407 «. 1 ; in Galilee, 423 /. ; in 
Eastern Palestine, 529, 538, 588, 
593/. ; in Damascus, 64,7 ; coins, 14. 

Selhab, Plain, 327 n. 2. 

Semechonitis, Lake, 481. 

Semites, home, 5 ; commerce, 5 ; reli- 
gion, 5, 28 ff; rdle in history, 5 ; out- 
goings of, 8 ; religious leaders of 
humanity, 28 ; temperament, 29. 

Seneh, 250 n. 4. 

Sennacherib's campaign in Shephelah, 
235/. ; army struck by plague, 158. 
Sephatha, 233. 

Septimius Severus and Lydda, 161 
n. 2 ; and Eleutheropolis, 232 ; 
roads, Appendix v. 

Serbonian Bog, 157. 

Settlements, European in Syria. 1 6, 



Index 



695 



17, 20 ; German, 20 ; Roman 
Catholic, 20; Jewish, 20; Circassian 
Greek, 20. See ch. xxviii. 

Sha'ara, Plain, 440 n. 

Shaphram, 425. 

Sharon, Plain of, 5, 52, 122, 147 /. 

Sharon in Eastern Palestine, 548. 

Shechem, 119, 332. See Nablus. 

importance of, 330. 

Shefa 'Amr, 425 n. I. 

Shephelah, the, chaps, x., xii.,49/. ; 
meaning of the name, 202 ; divi- 
sion between, and Judsea, 205 ; 
general aspect of, 207 ; valleys of, 
209 ff.\ in the Old Testament, 210 j 
with the Romans, 211 ; with the 
Maccabees, 212 in the Crusades, 
213/ ; and Richard 1., 214, 235; 
Joshua in, 215 ; David in, 211, 
227 ff. ; Philistines in, 223 ; and 
Sennacherib, 235 ; Christianity of, 
2 39 » Apostles on the, 240 ; mar- 
tyrs of, 241 ; churches of, 244. 

Shephelah of Israel, 338, 653. 

Shiloh, 119, 224 n. 2. 

Shishak, 283 n. 6. 

Shocoh, 202 n. i, 228/. 

Shunem, 400. 

Sicarii, 515. 

Siddim, vale of, 503. 

Sihon, conquests of, 557 ; war with, 
559; is it historical? 560. App. ill. 

Silkworm, cultivation of, 20. 

Simeon, entrance into land, 277 ; 
territory in the Negeb, 278^. 

Sinjil, St. Giles, a Crusader strong- 
hold of Samaria, 352. 

Sinnabris, 453 n. 5, 454 ; Ginnabris, 
483 n. 2. 

Snow in Western Palestine, 64 /. ; in 

Eastern Palestine, 520. 
Sodom, 505/. ; overthrow of, 508. 
Soil in Palestine, 79. 
Solomon's dominion in Eastern Pales- 

580 ; and Tamar, 270 n. 2, 488. 
Sorek, vale of, 193 ; position of, 218; 

settlement of tribe of Dan, 220 ; 

battle of, 223. 
Springs in Western Palestine, 77 J in 

Eastern Palestine, 52 1. 
Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, 8. 
Straits of Gibraltar, 24, 25. 
St. Abraham, Crusaders' name for 

Hebron, 272. 



St. George of Lydda and of England, 
162 ; and the Dragon, 163 ; 
Mohammedan legends of, 164 ; in 
Zorava and E. Palestine, 634, 636 f. 

Subbarin, 78 151. 

Succoth and Jogbehah, 585. 

Su'ete. See Es-Su'et 

Sugar, 267 n., 487. 

Surtabeh, 353, n. 5. 

Susiyeh or Hippos, 459. 

Suwete or Suhete, 537 n. 3, 553. 

Syria, invasions, by Israel, 6; by 
Islam, 6, 12 ; by hope, 7 ; by Par- 
thians, 12 ; by Persians, 12 ; by 
Turks, 12 ; by Mongols, 12 ; popu- 
lation, 8 ; tribal, 10 ; Semitic, 
IO ; immigrations, 6, 9 ; broken 
into provinces, 10 ; disabled from 
political empire, 10 ; relation to 
the three continents, 11 ; oppor- 
tunity westward, 21 ; single open- 
ing, 21 ; cradle of monotheism, 
31 ; and Hellenism, 34 ; place in 
history, chap. I. ; boundaries, 3-7 j 
name, 3, 4 ; historical geography 
of, 5 ; position, 6 ; spiritual em 
pire, 7 ; western outlook, 7 ; rela- 
tion to Arabia, 7 ; debatable 
ground between Asia and Africa, 
and between these and Europe, 7 ; 
influence westward, 7 ; religion, 7 ; 
form of the land, 45 ; relation to 
Arabia, 45 ; distinction from 
Arabia, 45 ; barrier to the desert, 
45 ; influence of desert upon, 46 ; 
brokenness in land, 55. 

Syriac church, 40. 

Sychar, chap, xviii. ; position of, 
367^ ; name of, 368^. 

Ta* AM I RAH Arabs, IO. 
Taanach, by Megiddo, 386, 387 n. 1, 
389. 

Taanath - Shiloh, a stronghold of 
Samaria, 355. 

Tabariyah or Tuberiyah, official dis- 
trict, 416 tt. 1, 458 n. 6. 

Tabigha, 458. 

Tabor. See Mount Tabor. 

Tadmor, 270. 

Taiyibeh, the city of Ephraim, 256, 

264 «. 1, 325 n. 2, 352. 
Tamar, 270. 

Tanturah ox Dor. See Dor. 



696 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Tappuah, 202 n. I. 

Taricheae, 451 ff. ; its position, 452 ; 

its industries, 454. 
Tekoah, wilderness of, 272 f. ; Amos' 

home, 314^ ; city of Judah, 317. 
Tell Deir 'Alia. See Succoth. 
Tell el 'AjjuL 153. 
Tell-el-Hesy. See Lachish. 
Tell-el-Kady, 472, 473 ; probably not 

Dan, 480. 
Tell-el-Kasis, 380 /. 
Tell-el-Milh, 286 n. 2. 
Tell-es-Safi } or Safiyeh, 227. 
Tell-Keimun, 152 406 n. 5. 
Temperatures in Palestine, 69 ff. ; 

their extremes, 70 ; mean annual 

temperature at Jerusalem, 71 ; some 

temperatures at Dhoheriyah, 68 ; 

in Eastern Palestine and on Jordan, 

70, 489, 520. 
Temple Christians, 19. 
Tetrarchy, See Philip and Herod 

Antipas. 

Thebez, a stronghold of Samaria, 
355- 

Tiberias, 447 ff. ; foundation of, and 
date, 447 ; position of, 447 ff. ; 
reason of its endurance, 450 ; our 
Lord and, 449 ; baths of, 450. 

Tibnin, 426 n. 2. 

Timnath Heres, 351, n. 3. 

Tirzah, a stronghold of Samaria, 355. 

Tob, the land of, 587. 

Trachonitis, 543, 553, 616^. 

Traders, 22 ; routes, 22. 

Trees, 80 ff. 

Tribes, Arabian, leave pastoral habits 
for agricultural, 10 ; submit to 
settled government, 10, 

Tubal, 136. 

Turks, 11. 

Tyre, fall of, 25. 

Umm el Jemal, 628 n. 3, 633. 
Umm-er-Resas, 568 n. 4, 569 n. 6. 
Umm-esh-Shukaf, 78 n. 
Umm Sirah, 264 n. I. 
Umm Junia, 455 n. 3. 
Underground cities in Eastern Pales- 
tine, 528, 576. 

Vales, list of, in Palestine. See Ap- 
pendix 1. ; also Elah, Jezreel, 
Berachah, Ajalon, etc. 



Valley of the Smiths, or the Crafts- 
men, 161 «., 210 n. 4. 

of Dead Sea, 261. 

Vegetables in Palestine, 83. 

Vespasian, campaign of, 55 5 h* s 
tactics against Jerusalem, 298 /. ; 
on the Lake of Galilee, 452/. 

Vine, cultivation of, 20, 81 /. ; in 
Judah, 208 ff. ; in Eastern Pales- 
tine, 522. 

Volcanoes, extinct, 48. 

Wady 'Abu Duba, 291 n. 1. 

'Abu Nar, 151 n. 2. 

'Ali, 206, 261, 287. 

'Amwas or 'Abu el 'Amis, 453. 

'Aujeh, 249. 

Deir Balut, 249. 

el 'Afranj, 231. 

el Gliamik, 151 n. 2 

el Ghurab, 205, 219 n. 1. 

el Hamam, 427. 

el Hesy, 234. 

el Ifjim, 326, 355. 

— - el Kuf, 287 n. 1. 

en Najil, 206 /., 219, 261 n I. 

en Nar, 511. 

es Seba, 279. 

es Sunt, 206, 226. 

■ es Sur, 206. 

esh Sha'ir, 346. 

et Taiyibeh, 264 n. 1. 

Farah, in Samaria, 256 ; ic 

Judah, 291 n. I. 

Ghuzzeh, 153 

Hesban, 532. 

Ishar, 249. 

Ismain, 287 n. I. 

Kaneh, 249, 657. 

Kelt, 494 n. I. 

Khulil, 279. 

■ Maktul, 416 it. 

Mojib, 558. 

Nimr, 249. 

Samieh, 249. 

Sheria, 206. 

Surar, 218/., 287, 

Waleh, 561. 

Waziyeh, 427. 

Wesa, 151 n. 2. 

Yabis, 520. 

Zerka Ma'in, 562, 57s. 

Waheb, 559. 

Water, inequality of distribution of, 



Index 



697 



78 ; west of Jordan, 78 ; east of | 

Jordan, 521. 
Wells in Western Palestine, 78 ff., 

and Appendix I. 
' "Wells of Moses/ 564. 
Wilderness of Judsea, 263. 

of Kedemoth, 559. 

Winds, 66 ; west wind, 66 ; sirocco, 

67 ; north wind, 67 : south wind, 

67. 

Woodland, 80, 81. 

Yarmuk, the, 48, 533, 534, 536, 538, 
548 ; valley of, 121 ; battles of, 
589. 

Yemen, 9. 



Zamaris, 618. 

Zanoah, 202 n. 

Zarthan or Sarthan, 488. 

Zebabdeh, plain of, 327, n. 2. 

Zeboim, 291 n. I. 

Zeboiim, a city of the Plain, 505. 

Zenodorus, 475 n. 1, 546 n. 1, 

617^ 
Zered, brook, 557. 
Zerka. ^Jabbok. 

Ma'in, 502, 571. 

Ziph, 306 «., 307 V, 317 w. 
Ziz, ascent of, 272, 
Zoar, 505/. 
Zorah, 218. 
Zughar, See Za&z. 



INDEX OF AUTHORITIES 



Abulfeda, 17, 408 [159. I 

Account of Endemic Plague in India, ! 
Acta Sanctorum, 17, 180, 181. 
Addis, 87. 

Admiralty Charts, 128. 
Allen, 15. 
Anderlind, 63, 418. 
Ankel, 63, 66, 67, 80, 128. 
Annals of Thothmes III., 152, 184. 
202. 

Antonius de Cremona, 182. 
Antoninus Placentinus, 162, 182, 190. 
Aquila, 222. 

Archives de la Sociiti d? Orient Latin, 
18. 

Arculf, 162, 456, 472. 
Amu If, 372. 

Arrian, 4, 16, 182, 183, 188. 
Asiatic Review, 29. 
Assizes of Jerusalem, ft. 17. 
Augustine, 25. 

Bacchides, 2o& 
Baethgart, 477. 
Baethgen, 550, 628, 629. 
Barclay, 63, 71. 
Baudissin, 334. 
Baumgarten, 157, 158. 
Benjamin of Tudela, 190, 473. 
Bernard, 162, 441. 
Bernhardt, 182. 
Bertheau, 393. 
Bertrand, 19. 
Besant, 432. 
Beugno', 18 
Birch, 230. 506. 
Bliss, 40. 
Boettger, 354. 

Boha-ed-Din, 17, 144, 163, 360, 397, 

408, 441. 
Rohn, 18. 



I Bongars, 17. 
j Bordeaux Pilgrim, 385. 
Brocardus, 370. 
Brugsch, 153, 173, *9i- 
Buckingham, 520, 599. 
Budde, 57, 174, 220, 221, 223, 277, 

351, 392, 400, 401, 577. 
Burckhardt, 29, 183, 337, 386, 500/, 
520/., 524, 526/., 529, 549, 558/., 
570, 599- 
Burton, 29. 

Cabriadds, Dr. Giovanni, 157, 
159- 

Caesar, Bell. Gall., 337. 

Bell. Afr. , 544. 

Carmoly, 18, 453. 
Cassius, 451. 

Chaplin, 63, 71, 224, 418. 
Chase, 546. 

Cheyne, 101, 228, 405,477, 510, 550, 
Clermont-Ganneau, 15, 129, 164, 202, 
214, 224, 230, 235, 459, 507, 568, 

635- 
Colville, 159. 

Commentary on Isaiah, 180. 
Conder, 14, 18, 97, 129, 161, 165, 
170, 190, 195, 202 /., 214, 2i6 s 220, 
222, 224, 226, 228, 230, 256, 286, 
3°7, 3 T 9, 346, 356, 369,371, 387/ » 
394, 398, 401, 418, 432, 452 /, 
456, 469, 471, 483 ff.y 4*8 ff., 
496, 503, 544, 55 1 , 561/, 565/» 
570, 581, 585^, etc. 
Conybeare and Howson, 620. 
Cooke, 393, 395, 396. 
Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, 

15, 22, 135, 547, 569, 62? 
Council of Constantinople, i^o. 
Council of Nice, H07. 
Cox, r8. 



m 



Index of Authorities 



699 



Critical Review, 622, 623, 625, 634, 

635- 
Cross, 367. 

Davidson, Prof. A. B., 393. 
Dawson, 468, 469, 470, 501, 509. 
De Joinville, 17, 480. 
Delitzsch, 550. 

De Saulcy, 14, 15, 140, 186, 187, 
214, 348, 363, 448, 451, 475, 
506/, 513, 594, 597/., 600, 605, 
623. 

De Vogue, 18, 163, 618, 621, 629 /. 
Dillmann, 170, 201, 334, 335, 393, 

420, 443, 551, 557, 559 /., 564, 

664. 

Diodorus Siculus, 16, 22, 25, 157, 
184, 187, 266, 347, 482, 487, 501, 
538. 

Dion Cassius, 545, 024. 
Dioscorides, 482. 

Discorso sopra il Commercio degli 

Italiani ncl sec. xiv., 18. 
Doughty, 29, 183, 282, 547, 557, 631. 
Drake, 286. 
Driver, 233, 334, 393* 
Duhm, no. 

Eastern Palestine and the Cru- 
sades, 537. 

Ebers, 170, 197, 452. 

Eckhel, 14. 

Epiphanius, 631, 632. 

Eusebius, 17, 38, 161, 162, 180, 181, 
188, 202, 203, 212, 239, 241, 270, 
285, 291, 347, 351, 362, 369, 386, 
474, 488, 542 /., 546, 581, 598, 

631/ 

Ewald, 223, 420. 

Ewing, 449, 627, 632, 635, etc. 

Felix Fabri, 128, 165, 319, 473. 
Fetellus, 363, 370, 385, 473. 
Fischer and Guthe, map, 537. 
Freeman, 24. 

Frei, 449, 45 2 , 453, 454, 462. 
Furrer, 448, 452, 455/., 458. 

Galen, 502, 507. 
Gardner, 14. 
Gatt, 182, 189. 

Geoffrey de Vinsauf, 17, 130, 148, 
150, 154, 156, 163, 214, 227, 235, 

388. 



Geographi Gr<zci Minores, xxiv, 16, 

185, 187, 267, 362/., 487. 
Gerusalemme Liberata, 148. 
Gesenius, 201, 364, 503, 506. 
Gibbon, 16, 157, 158. 
Glaisher, 63, 71. 
Goldziher, 223. 
Gough, 14. 

Guerin, 128, 131, 164, 186, 190, 195, 
212, 214, 219, 222, 230, 243 /., 
432, 454, 456. 

Guthe, 189, 222, 392, 452, 550. 

Haimendorf, 458. 
Hasselquist, 462. 

Henderson, 49, 58, 222, 226, 278, 

286, 319, 335, 388, 458, 551- 
Herodotus, 4, 16, 25, 159, 288, 363. 
Heyd, 1 8,, 429. 
Plitzig, 171, 223, 337, 
Hollenberg, 277. 
Holtzmann, 458. 
Holmes, 373. 
Horace, 267. 

Hull, 134, 207,468^, 501. 

Idrisi, 542. 

Imad-ed-Din, 17. 

Irby and Mangles' Travels, 361. 

Isaac Chilo, 456. 

Jacques de Vitry, 17. 

Jerome, 17, 161, 180, 188, 212, 231, 
239/, 270, 285, 368, 388, 390, 
488, 581, 601. 

Jerusalem Itinerary , 385, 398. 

John d'Ibelin, 18. 

John of Wurzburg, 370. 

Josephus, 4, 128, 137 f., 148, 154, 
161, 165, 184 f., 189/, 192, 195, 
211/., 216, 222, 231, 233, 239 /., 
25°. 253/., 264, 266/, 270/., 

291, 293, 299, 329, 338, 346/:, 

35o, 352 /:, 353, 354, 356, 358, 
359, 361, 363, 379, 39o, 394, 405, 
407, 4I4#, 419, 421, 434, 442/., 
446, 448 /, 450^, 47i, 473, 481, 
483, 488, 500, 501, 513, 525, 528, 
538/, 541 /:, 544/, 547, 568 ff., 
589, 594/-, 598/, 601, 606, 617 ff. 
Justi, 404. 

Kasteren, 454. 
Kautsch, 664. 



yoo The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Keim, 457, 570. 
Kitchener, 286, 452, 507. 
Kittel, 174, 201, 223, 277, etc 
Klostermann, 404. 
Knobel, 171, 201, 507, 510. 
Kuenen, 223, 393, 663, etc. 

Lagarde, 289. 
Lamartine, 444, 460. 
Le Bas, 15. 

Leon de Lantsheeres, 14. 

Le Strange, 143, 190, 192, 480, 486, 

487, 488, 506, 536, 598. 
Leusden, 569. 
Levy, 569. 
Lewin, 448. 
Lightfoot, 569. 
Lortet, 442, 469, 502. 
Lucian, 335, 404. 
Ludovico Vartema, 29. 
Lussac, 501. 

Lynch, 63, 69, 71, 337, 501/, 508. 

Macgregor, 441, 449, 481. 
Madden, 15. 
Marcet, 501. 
Marino Sanuto, 388. 
Marta s 356. 
Maspero, 212, 283. 
Maundeville, Sir John, 372, 473. 
Maundrell, 373. 

Merrill, 15, 58, 421, 432, 443, 450, 
456, 462, 506, 520, 529, 543, 616, 

635- 
Mesha, 567. 
Meyer, 276, 277, 662. 
Miller, 97, 228, 300, 403. 
Milner, 224. 
Mionnet, 14. 

Mommsen, 15 /., 595, 598, 

624. 
Moore, 279- 
Mordtmann, 15. 
Muir, 359. 
Mukaddasi, 143. 

Muller, W. Max, 152, 172, 197/., 212, 

278, 283, 388. 
Murray, Surg. -Gen., 159. 
Murray's Guide, 265. 

Napoleon, 19, 108, 151, 158, 390. 
Nasir-i-Khusrau, 143. 
Neander, 620. 
Nestle, 231. 



Neubauer, 52, 351, 419, 422, 425, 

443, 447, 454, 54°, 547, etc. 
Notling, 471, 508, 510. 

Odyssey, 171. 
Olshausen, 550. 
Oliphant, 522, 528, 586. 
Onomasticon, 52, 161, 174, 195, 212, 

226, 230, 233, 252, 254, 348, 472, 

473, 481, 488. 
Oort, 276, 392. 
Orelli, 223. 

Palestine Exploration Fund 
Memoir, 131, 140, 143,152, 164/., 
182, 190, 222, 242, 327, 382, 419. 

Palestine Exploration Fund Quar- 
terly, 14, 40, 63, 65, 67, 71, 188, 
190, 192, 216, 224, 226, 255, 283, 
286, etc. etc. 

Papyrus Golenischiff, 197 or 198. 

Peschito, the, 560. 

Peutinger Tables, 281, 354, 599, etc 

Philippics, 544. 

Philo, 194. 

Phocas, 163. 

Pietri Delia Valle, 18. 

Pliny, 16, 128, 131, 140, 157, 183, 

189, 266, 358, 363, 448, 452, 474/, 

487, 501, 538, 540, 547, 569, 596, 

599, 602. 
Plutarch, 170, 407. 
Polybius, 16, 184, 359, 361, 455, 

480, 487, 538, 594, 598. 
Porter, 374, 529, 551, 576, 599, 620, 

624. 
Post, 521, 529. 
Pressel, 267. 

Prutz, 9, 18, 233, 408, 413. 
Ptolemy, 16, 157, 189, 231, 270, 354, 

415, 458, 543, 550, 598. 
Pusey, 190. 

Quaresmius, 18, 214, 370, 457, 
481. 

Quintus Curtius, 16, 183, 346. 

Ramsay, 544, 554. 
Raumer, 186. 

Records of the Past, 14, 152, 192/., 

197, 216, 360. 
Recueil a* Archiologie Orientale, 2\?- 

See Clermont-Ganneau. 
Reinach, 192. 



Index of Authorities 



701 



Reland, 507, 544, 598, 600, 607, 624, 
etc. 

Renan, 404. 

Rendell Harris, 15. 

Reports of German and English Com- 
missions to Astrakhan^ 157, 159. 

Reuss, 335, 401. 

Rey, 18, 183, 214, 265, 267, 271/., 

360, 429, 487, 537, etc. 
Reyland, 170, 362, 364, 458. 
Reyssbuch des heiligen Landes, 18. 
Riehm, 173. 
Ritter, Carl, 113. 

Robertson Smith, II, 22, 29, 34, 
393, 401, 474, 581. 

Robinson, 49, 63, 65, 67, 69, 78, 
163, 165, 182. 186, 195, 212, 226, 
231, 233, 243, 267, 271, 280, 286, 
326, 351/, 361, 373, 388, 419, 
441/., 449/., 454, 456, 472, 474/., 
488, 500, 507, 544, etc. etc. 

Rohricht, 18, 148, 232, 234, 35c, 
408. 

Ross, 20. 

Rowlands, 283. 

Ryle, 253. 

Saewulf, 372, 473. 
Sayce, 14, 170, 184, 360. 
Schenkel, 171. 
Schick, 189, 222, 287. 
Schlatter, 161, 253/., 352, 539. 
Schmidt, Woldemar, 620. 
Schrader, 1,36, 169, 236. 
Schumacher, 416, 427, 432, 444, 447 

/., 459, 486, 488, 536, 625, 634, 

etc 

Schiirer, 16, 18, 187, 255, 291, 347, 
35 2 , 353, 354, 4M, 422, 448, 449, 
452, 455, 456, 457, 474, 488, 545, 
593, 600, 607, 617, 620 /., 623, etc. 

Scylax, 25, 129. 

Seetzen, 454, 520, 586, 600, 

Smith {Chald. Genesis), 319. 

Smith, Eli, 243, 354. 

Socin, 11, 388, 452, 456, etc. 

Socrates, 17, 285. 

Solms, Graf zu, 372. 

Sozomen, 17, 180, 188, 239, 262. 

Spiers, 452. 

Stade, 172, 174, 201, 223, 230, 236, 
274, 276, 285/., 346, 404, 567, 
577/., etc., especially 659/". 

Siegfried, 201, 279, 510. 



Stanley, 201, 31 1, 334, 403, 457, 
495- 

Stark, 188, 239/, 244, 347, 594. 
Stephanus Byzantinus, 17, 363, 593, 
598, 607. 

Strabo, 16, 25, 128, 157, 183/, 187, 
193, 266, 353, 501, 510, 528, 543, 
545, 547, 586, 607, 619. 

Stubel, chart, 537. 

Sybel, 18. 

Symmachus, 222. 

Syncellus, 363. 

Tacitus, 23, 171, 407, 421, 434, 

502, 510, 545. 
Tahn, 255. 

Talmud, 129, 141, 202 /, 210, 212, 
256, 417, 419, 425, 443, 447, 454, 
456, etc. 

Targums, 443, etc 

Tertullian, 628. 

Theodoret, 632. 

Theodorich, 372, 

Theodosius, 488. 

Theophrastus, 482. 

Thomson, 231, 399, 458. 

Tobler, 18. 

Tomkins, 14, 318, 360. 
Transactions of Epidemiological 

Society, 157, 159. 
Transactions of the Society of Biblical 

Archeology, 14, 
Travels of an Egyptian, 152, 388 n, 
Trelawney Saunders, 195, 207, 249, 

327, 388. 

Tristram, 58, 269 /., 441, 443, 456, 

462, 570, etc 
Trumbull, 280. 
Tuch, 593. 
Tuchem, 372. 

Uhlhorn, 632. 
Ulpien, 348. 

Vartan, 418. 
V. de Velde, 230. 
Volney, 158. 

Waddington, 15, 526, 547, 596, 
599/, 618/., 621, 624 ff., 632 f., 
636, etc. 

Walsh, 19, 158. 

Warren, 211, 488. 



jo2 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Wellhausen, 29, 195, 274, 316, 327, 

393, 40i, 577, 581, 663. 
Wetzstein, 15, 528, 538, 542/., 550, 

576, 599/-, 624, 626, etc. 
Westcott and Hort, 540, 542. 
Wieseler, 570. 
Wietzke, 223. 

William of Tyre, 17, 52, 156, 195, 

214, 233, 267, 360, 528. 
Williams, 371. 
Willibald, 162, 456, 472. 
Wilson, 224, 452, 456. 
Wittenberg, 223. 
Wittmann, 10, 63, 156, 158. 



Wright, 14, 387, 477- 
Zeitschrift alt-Testamentli- 

CHER WlSSENSCHAFT, 276, etc. 

Zeitschrift Deutsche* Paldstinisches 
Verein y 14, 20, 63, 76, 131, 148, 
163, 182, 189, 214, 222, 287, 346, 
353, 4i3> 44i, 449, 623, etc 
etc. 

Z. D. M. G., 628. 
Zosimus, 17. 
Zschokke, 267, 353. 
See also Appendix IV. for Authorities 
on Eastern Palestine. 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES 



Genesis ii. 10 


Page 657 


Genesis xxxiii. 18 


Page 333 


X. 2 


136 


xxxiv. 


333 


x. 3, 10 . 


506 


xxxv. 16, !$, 


319 


x. 4 4 


• I3S/i l 7* 


xxxv. 27 


, , 318 


x. 14 • 


170 


xxxvii. 14 


1 ■ 655 


X. 19 8 


174 


xxxvii. 20 


658 


xi. 2 • 


. • 655 


xxxvii. 25 


. l5i/» 522 


xii. 6 . 


333 


xxxviii. . 


289 


xiii. • 


5" 


xxxviii. 1 


229 


xiii. 1 


278, 283 


xii. 1-3 . 


65S 


xiii. 10, 12 


. . 506/ 


xiv. 19 . 


► 667 


xiii. 18 . 


. . 318 


xlvi. 1, 5/ 


283 


xiv. > 


281, 511 


xlviii. 7 . 


319 


xiv. 2 . 


506 


xiviii. 22 . 


654 


xiv. 3 


5i°> 655 


xlix. 


. 308 528 


xiv. 7 


, 506/., 656 


xlix. 13 . 


132 


xiv. 8 . 


506, 655 


xlix. 14 . 


. - 383 


xiv. 13, 24 


. . 318 


xlix. 20, 21 


420 


xiv. 17 . 


. • 655 


xlix. 30 . 


318 


xvi. 7 


. . 283 


L 11 


656 


xviii. 1 


. • 318 


1. 13 . 


- . 318 


xix. 17, 29 


. S°5#-» 5" 


Exodus viii. I , 


- * 6*7 f- 


xix. 24-28 


508 


xvii. 8 1 


282 


xix. 28 . 


510 


xxii. 31 , 


490 


XX. 


i74 


xxx. 23 , 


, , 84 


xxi. 22-32 


. B 284/ 


Leviticus vii. 24 , 


490 


xxii. 1-14 


334 


xvii. 15 , 


» . 49° 


xxiii. 2, 19 


. , 318 


xxi. 20 . 


55o 


xxv. 9 . 


. . 318 


xxii. 8 . 


490 


xxv. 15 . 


. • 544 


xxvi. 6, 22 


490 


xxvi. 


174 


Numbers xiii. 22 . 


. • 318 


xxvi. 8 


564 


xiii. 23 . 


318, 657 


xxvi. 17 . 


657 


xx. 19 . 


668 


xxvi. 26-33 


284 


XX. 22 . 


■ • 653 


xxxi. 21 . 


549, 657 


xxi. 10 . 


557 


xxxi. 25 . 


549 


xxi. 14 . 


559, 657 


xxxi. 39 . 


490 


xxi. 15 . 


559 


xxxi. 49 . 


586 


xxi. 16, 18 


. 561 


xxxii. I-IO 


586 


xxi. 20 . 


564, 655 


xx xii. 10 . 


491 


xxi. 21 . 


558 


xxxii. 23 . 


337. 657 


xxi. 23 . 


559 


xxxii. 25-33 


586 


xxi. 27-30 


6C2 



703 



704 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



XXL 29 . 


• Page 561 


Deuteronomy iii. 29 


Page 655 


xxi. 33 . 


549, 664 


i y - 43 


548, 550 


xxii. 1 . 


663 


iv. 47 


664 


xxii. 6 . 


525 


iv. 49 


564 


xxii. 41 . 


565. 663 


vii. 15 


159 


xxiii. 14 


564, 565, 663 


vii. 22 


490 


xxiii. 23 


566 


xi. 


74 


xxiii. 28 


663 


xi. 14 


64 


xxiv. I 


566 


xi. 30 . 


277, 662 


xxiv. 21 ff. 


. . 278 


xiii. 17 


654 


xxiv. 24 


135 


xix. 3 


668 


xxvi. 6 . 


657 


xxiii. 8, 9 


240 


xxvi. 29 /. 


578 


xxvi-xxviii. . 334 


xxvii. 12 


53 


xxvii. 4 • 


• 49 1 


xxxi. 


525, 566 


xxviii. 35 


• x 59 


xxxii. 1 , 


524, 549. 577 


aA V 1U. \J\J 


T 59 


xxxii. 3 . 


564 


XX . 1X * 7 ' 


664 


xxxii. 6 ff. 


492 


xxix. 23 . 




xxxii. 29 


549 


xxxn. 


8; ff 


xxxii. 33 


577, 664 


xxxii. 10 


3 I2 > 657 


xxxii. ff* 


■ » j * 


xxxii. 24 


490 


xxxii. 35 


. 585 


xxxii. 32 


• 5°5 


xxxii. 36 


488 


xxxii. 49 


5°4 


xxxii. 38 


564 


XXXlll. 


C C ff r-yR 

°5 U' » 5 2a 


xxxii. 39 


1 i 577 


xxxiii. 20 


549 


xxxii. 41 


55i 


XXXlll. 22 


55° 


xxxii. 42 


$85) 599 


xxxiii. 23j 


24 • 420 


xxxiii. 47 


564 


xxxiv. I 


540, 564 


xxxiv. 4 


• 654 


xxxiv. 3 . 


1 200, 4°2 


xxxiv. 5 


657 


1655, 671 


xxxiv. 6, 


. 132 


_ XXXIX. , 




xxxiv. 10-12 


• 401 


Josnuai. 2 . t 


491 


xxxiv. 11. 


428 


ii. *! . . . 


111 


omy i. 4 


549, 664 


iii. . 


485 


i. 7 


53, 652 


iii. 8, 15 . 


65S 


ii. 8 


657 


iii. 16 , 


400, 4S8 


ii. 23 


170, 198 


iv. . . 


276, 485 


ii. 24 


657 


v. 33 


229 


ii. 26, 27 


559 


vi. 24-27 , . 


• 273/ 


ii. 32 


559 


vii. 5 


654 


ii. 36 


549, 557 /. 


vii. 24 , . 


. 655 


ii. XI 


657 


viii. 30^ 


334 


iii. ■ 


576, 664 


ix. 10 . , 


549, 664 


iii. 4 


• 551/ 


ix. 17 


226 


iii. 8 


557, 657 


x. 1-12 , 


291 


iii. 10 


548/., 656 


x. 10 , 


211, 654 


iii. 12 


. 548/. 


X. 12 


. 655 


iii. 13 , 


548, 55i 


x. 29, 31 . 


196 


iii 14 


55i 


x. 33 • 


216 


iii. IS 


549 


x. 40, 41 , . 


652 


iii. 16 


. • 548/ 


x. 43 


276, 277, 662 


iii. 17 


443. 564 


xi. « . 


174 


iii. 20 


491 


xi. 1 . 


393 


iii. 27 


564 


xi. 2 . 


203, 278, 443 



/ ndex of Scripture References 705 



xi. 3 


. Page 5 


Joshua xv. 33 


. Page 201 / 


xi. 4 . . 


658 


xv. 35 


229 


xi. C . 


481 


xv. 38 


196 


X i. 6 ; 


481, 667 


xv. 43, 44 


230, 233 


xi. 9 • 


667 


xv. 45-47 


184 


xi. 13 


... 654 


xv. 48 


280 


xi. 16 


203, 338, 652 


xv. 51 


6C2 


xi. 17 


474, 482, 655 


xv. 62 


286 


xi. 21 


172, 280, 318 


xvi. 3 


216, 252 


xi. 22 . 


172 


xvi. 5 , 


252 


xii. 2 , 


• 548/. 


xvi. 6 


355 


xii. 3 . 


564 


xvi. 8 


657 


xii. 4 • 


549> 550, 664 


xvi. 10 


• 216 


xii. 5 


• 548 / 


xvii. 1 


549 


xii. 7 


474, 482, 655 


xvii. 2 


578 


xii. 8 


652 


xvii. 5, 6 . 


549 


xii. 13 


• 280 


xvii. 11 362, 


379, 387, 389 


xii. 21 . 


387 


xvii. 14 . 


329 


xii. 22 


396 


xviL 14-18 


577 


xii. 23 . 




xvii. 15 


325 


xiii. . 


174 


xvii. 16 . 


362, 385, 655 


xiii. 2 


I74> 4i3 


xvii. 18 . 


328 


xiii. 3 


658 


xviii. 10 . 


654 


xiii. 5 


474 


xviii. 14 . 


22^ 


xiii. 9 


548, 656 


xviii. 17 . 


265 


xiii. 11 


• 548^". 


xviii. 19 . " 


266, 278, 658 


xiii. 12 


549 


xviii. 21 . 


266, 655 


xiii. 13 


550 


xviii. 24 . 


35 1 


xiii. \$ff. 


* 567 


xviii. 28 . 


655 


xiii. 16 


548, 557, 656 


xix. 2 . 


286 


xiii. 18 


559 


xix. 10 


379 


xiii. 20 


564, 566 


xix. 11 


428, 657 


xiii. 25 


549 


xix. 12 • 


653 


xiii. 26 


587 


xix. 14 • 


656 


xiii. 27 


482, 488, 655 


xix. 18 


653 


xiii. 30 


552, 664 


xix. 21 


356 


xiii. 31 


549 


xix. 23 


• • 379 


xiv. 15 


318 


xix. 27 


656 


XV. 2 


278 
654 


xix. 33 


396, 655 


xv. 3 


xix. 34 


654 


xv. 4 


278, 318, 657 


xix. 35 


443 


xv. 5 


658 


xix. 40-48 


220 


xv. 6 


266 


xix. 44 . 


• • 236 


xv. 7 , 


265 


xix. 50 . 


325, 351 


xv. 8 


. . 654/: 


xx. 7 . 


318, 325, 415 


xv. 9 . 


226 


xx. 8 


548, 550 


XV. 10 


654 


xxi. 1 


280 


XV. II 


193 


xxi. 6 


549 


xv. 13 . 


172, 318 


xxi. 11 


• 53, 318, 325 


xv. 14 


172 


xxi. 13 , 


. . 318 


xv. 15 


279-280 


xxi. 15 


280 


xv. 19 


280, 658 


xxi. 22 . 


252 


xv. 26 


286 

• • 557 


xxi. 25 


197 


vv. 20 


xxi. 27 


550 



706 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



xxi. 29 




Page 356 


Judges viii. 13 


• 


Page 654 


xxi. 32 




415 


X. 


• 


577 


xxi. 36/ . 




559 


x. 3, 5 


» 


SSI ' S3 


xxii. 9, 13, 15, 


22, 32 549 


x. 17 


• • 




xxii. 10, II 




413 


xi. 11 


■ • 


. 580 


xxiv. 9 




. 663 


xi. 20 


» » 


559 


xxiv. 30 . 




35i. 657 


xi. 29 


• • 


• 506 


i. 




174, 277 


xi- 33 


• 


. 656 


i. Zff. . 




265 


xi. 34 


• • 




i. 9 • 




• 5»65i 


xii. . 


• 


658 


1 

L 10 . 




. 318 


xii. 4 


• • 


335, 578 


i. 14 




279 


xii. 5 


• 


319, 49i 


i. 15 




279, 658 


xii. 8-10 


• 


3 J 9 


i. 16 




266 


xii. 13 


• 


663 


i. 18 


174 


184, 198 


xii. 13-15 


• 


355 


i. 19 




216, 651 


xii. 15 


• 


332, 35° 


i. 27 . 362 


363, 387, 389 


xiii. 25 




. 220 f. 


i. 34 




174 


xv. 8 


• 


222 


i. 36 




. 654 


xvi. 4 


• 


657 


ii. 9 • 




35i, 657 


xvii. 7 


• 


3 J 9 


lii. 3 




474 


xviii. 7 


• 


57 


iii. 11 




364 


xviii. 12, 


f3 • 


220 /. 


in. 13 




266, 274 


xviii. 28 


• 


655 


iii. 16 . 




277 


xix. 1 


• 


319, 653 


iii. 27 . 




323, 325 


xix. 2 


• • 


3 r 9 


iii. 31 




181 


XIX. 10 


• • 


653 


iv. 




392 


XX. . 


• • 


« 500 


iy - 5; 8 


323 


325» 329 


xx. 31 


• 


• 668 


IV. 10-22 . 




396 


xx. 35 


• • 


• 290 


v. . • 




393, ff> 


xxi. . 


• • 


• 5°o 


v. 14 




332, 577 


Ruth i. 1, 2 


• 


3i9 


v. 15 




658 


1 Samuel i. 1 


• 254, 


3!9, 325 


16 




524, 658 


iv. 


• • 


192, 355 


v. 17 . ( 


132, 


174, 220, 


Vtt 1 


• 


224, 350 


I 




549, 579 


V. I 


• 


224 


▼. 18 




432 


v. 6 


• 


159 


v. 19 




386, 388 


▼. 8 


• 


195, 196 


V. 21 ; 




96 


v. 9, 12 


» 


159 


vi. 11 


323= 


329, 355 
384, 655 


vi. 10 


• 


667 


vi. 33 




vi. 12 




DOS 


vi- 35 




400 


vi. 14 




224 


vii. . . 




394 


vi. 18 


• 


224, 656 


vii. I . 




385, 655 


vii. 


• 


. 223/. 


vii. 2-8 . 




400 


vii. 12 


• 


214 


vii. 12 




. 385 


vii. 14 


• 


195 


vii. 13 




83 


Vlll. 2 




285 


vii. 16, 19 /. 




399 


ix. 4 




325 


vii. 22 




397, 58i 


x. 5 




• 250 


vii. 24 . 




49i 


xi. 


18 ! 


579 


viii. . . 




579 


xii. 17, 


65 


▼iii. 1, 2 . 




• 400 


xiii. 


177, 2ii, 


250, 291 


▼iii. 8-1 1 . 




586 


xiii. 5 




402 


viii. 11 




■ 585 


xiii. 7 




549 


viii. 12 




525 


xiii. 19 




160, 211 



Index of Scripture References 


707 


xiv. 


Page 21 1, 250 


2 Samuel v.22ff. 


Pa^e 178 


xiv. 4 . 


337 


v. 25 . 


. • 211 


xv. 5 . 


277, 657 


vi. 2 , 


, , 226 


xvii. 2-6 


196 


vi. 3 • 


667 


xvii. 2 , 


. 226, 654 


vii. 8 . 


. 11 I 


xvii. 3 . 


• • 656 


viii. . 


C7Q 


xvii. 12 


3 T 9 


viii. 4 . 


667 


xvii. 19 


• 226, 654 


X. 


• • j/y 


xvii. 52 


. • 196 


xiii. 23 . 


325. 1^2 


xviii. 23 


337 


xiii. 34 . 


6Ki 


xx. 14 . 


. . • 171 


XV. 




xxi. 9 . 


, . 226 


xv. 7, 10 


318 


xxii. 1 . 


• . 229 


xv. 23 . 


6?7 


xxii. 3, 4 


• , 265 


xv. 28 . 


. . 117 


xxii. 5 . 


s 229, 23O 


xvi. 


t 492, 667 


xxiii. 3 • 


• • 230 


xvi. 13 . 


• • °iJ 


xxiii. 15 


• • 3°7 


xvii. 16 


117 


xxiii. 26 


653 


xvii. 20 


658 


xxiii. 29 


t • 270 


xviii. 6 . 


11$ 


xxiv. 


, » 270 


xviii. 8 . 


C22 c8o 


xxvii. 2 


172 


xviii. 10 


580 


xxvii. 10 


• » 270 


xviii. 17 


• . 656 


xxviii. . 


401 


xviii. 23 


• • 506 


xxviii. 3 


177 


xix. 18 


117 


xxix. 


177, 394, 401 


xxi. 1 2 . 


t t 362 


xxix. I . 


350, 357 


xxi. 22 . 




xxix. II 


357 


xxii. 3 . 


06 


XXX. 


. . 401 


xxii. 5 . 


. 658 


XXX. I . 


• 278, 282 


xxii. 34, 37 


q6 


xxx. 9, 10 


657 


xxiii. 13 


t s 229 


xxx. 14 


• a 270 


xxiii. 20 


6c 


XXX. 21 


657 


xxiii. 30 


6C7 


xxx. 29 


286 


xxiv. 5 . 


6*7 


xxx. 31 


318 


xxiv. 7 . 


278 


xxxi. 


177, 4OI 


xxiv. 20 


• • J u< + 


xxxi. 1 . 


4O3 


I Kings ii. 39 


172 


xxxi. 10, 12 


362 


iv. 12 


f 3C7. 162 ^87 


xxxi. 11-13 


579 


1 280 aoo cRt 


i. 6 


403 


iv. 13 . 


. «I f 


1.19 . 97,403-^,653 


iv. 19 




1. 20 . 


191 


iv. 24 


i8« 


i. 25 , 


. . 653 


iv. 25 , 


• • 3*t» 


ii. . 


579 


v. . • 


• . 129 


ii. 1 


. . 318 


vi. 34 . 


All 

4m 


ii. S_f. . 


492 


vii. 46 , 


/ion a rn/i 
4UU) 4'- > °, 


ii. 9 . 


35 


viii. 65 . 


057 


ii. 12 . 


291 


ix. 1 1 


415 


ii. 13 , 


250, 291, 659 


ix. 15-17 


• 212, 2l6 


iii. 2 


318, 357 


ix. 18 


270, <;8o 


iii. 32 . 


. . 318 


ix. 26, 28 


281 


iv. 1 


. 401 


x. 26 


667 


iv. 1-12 


. . 318 


x. 27 


81 


iv. 4 


357 


xi. 26 


319 


v. I-13 . 


. . 318 


wi. 2$ 


325. 336 



708 The Historical Geogt 



mphy of the Holy Land 



I Kings xii. 29 


Page 250 


2 Kings x. 12, 15 ff. 
x. 17 ff. . 


Page 330 


xiv. 17 . 


345 


• • 349 


xiv. 23, 24 


89 


x. 29 


• • 250 


xv. 17 . 


251, 291 


x - 33 


• . 55° 


xv. 20 


, 443, 656 


xii. 7 • 


• • 195 


XV. 21, 22 


, . 251 


xiii. 2 . 


581 


xv. 27 


351 


xiii. 14, if 


: 582 


xvi. i$ff. 


251 


xiii. 21 . 


. . so 


xvi. 24 . 


• « 346 


xiii. 25 , 


. . 582 


xvi. 32 . 


. . 348 


xiv. 8 . 


• • 291 


xvi. 34 • 


. . 251 


xiv. 28 * 


. . 582 


xvii. 1 . 


493, 580 


xv. 29 , 


9 415, 582 


xvii. 3 . 


494, 580, 657 


xvi 


• . 301 


xvii. 4 , 


657 


xvi. 5 


• . 291 


xvii. 5 . 


580 


xvii. 9-12 


89 


xviii. 13 . 


349 


xvii. 25 . 


49° 


xviii. 32 . 


658 


xvii. 26 . 


. . 173 


xviii. 44 ff. 


33°> 357» 379 
282 


xviii. 1 , 


• . 301 


xix. 


xviii. 8 . 


178, 185 


xix. 3 


. . 285 


xviii. 14 . 


• • 234 


xix. 16 . 


581 


xviii. 17 . 


234, 658 


XX. . • 


349, 430, 581 


xix. * 


• • 301 


xx. 26 


401 


xix. 8 . 


• • 234 


xx. 23-35 


656 


xx. 7 ■ 


• • 159 


xxi. 1, 23 


357 


xx. 20 ■ 


658 


xxii. . 336 


430, 581, 587 


xx. 34 . 


191 


xxii. 29 ff. 


• 33° 


xxiii. 4 


252 


9 Kings i. 1 . 


567 


xxiii. 8 . 


251, 285, 291 


i. 2 . 


• l 9Z 


xxiii. 15 . 


252 


li. . 




xxiii. 29 . 


. • 406 


ii. 1 


» » 35 2 


xxiii. 36 . 


• 654 


ii Aff- • 


251 


xxiv. 10 . 


292 


iii. 4 . 


• • 524 


1 Chronicles i. 7 . 


136 


iii. 5 


568 


i. 30 


544 


iii. 16 


. 659 


ii. 9 . 


286 


iv. . 


491 


ii. 23 


599 


iv. 9 


, . 379 


ii. 42 ff. 


318 


iv. 13 


552 


iv. 28 


286 


iv. 38 ff. . 


582 


iv. 43 


282 


2 . 


581 


v. 8 . 


• . ^64 

* » j"*t 


v. gff. . 




v. II 


549 


v. 24 . 




v. 16 


548, 656 


vi. 1 ff. . 


, . 495 


v. 23 


, 549, 550 


▼i. 10 ff. . 


3">6 


vi. 63 


• <CQ 

• * JJ7 


vi i&ff. . 


581 


vi. 72 


• . 396 


vi. 1-23 . 


. . 582 


vi. 76 


396, 415 


vi. 25 


347 


vii. 21 


196,211 


viii. 7^ . 


. . 582 


vii. 28 


I84 


▼iii. 22,^ 


196 


vii. 29 


362, 387, 389 


ix. . 


336, 387, 587 


viii. 12 


I6l 


fe-3 . 


582 


viii 13 


I96, 211 


a. 16 ff. . 


330 


ix. . 


• • 253 


ix. 27 


654 


xi. 6 


319 


u. 28 . 


330 


*i. 15 


• 229 



Index of Scripture References yog 



■ V>*' viiiWlbO Alt J /V 


Pa ere 6C7 


xiv. 15 


96 


xiv. 16 


• * 211 


xviii. 1 


• * 195 


xx. 5 


• • 3*9 


xxvi. 10 


653 


xxvi. 16 


668 


xxvii. 29 


656 


xxvii. (xx 1 


mi.) 28 81 


3 Chronicles L 15 


81 


ii. 16, 17 


279 


iv. 16 


• • 129 


sv. 17 


• . 400 


v. 9, 21 


• • 524 

■ " J*"T 


viii. 4 


• • 270 


xi. 5. 


• • 195 


xi. 7. 


• • 229 


xi. 8. 


• I95> 233 


xi. 9 


• • 234 


xi. 10 


. 220, 318 


xiii. 19 


251, 325, 352 


xiv. 9 


12 


xiv. 9 ^ 


c . 233 


xvi. 4 


656 


xvii 11 


183, 281 


xix. 4 


• • 285 


XX. . 


• • 272 


xx. 16 


• • 654 


xx, 26 


• e 6<;<; 


xx. 37 


• • 233 


xxL 16 


183 


xxvi. 6 


• '95, 196 


xxvi. 8 


• 192 


xxvi. 9 




xxvi. 10 


282, 631, 6s6 


xxviii. 15 


266 


xxviii. 18 


i 202, 210 


xxxii. 9 


• - 234 


XXXV. 22 


389 


•AAA V • <6<X 


33°, 406 


xxxv. 25 


• • 406 


Szra ii. 6 . 


6<6 


ii. 20^ . 


» • 252 


ii. 25 . . 


= . 226 


»• 33 • • 


» 161, 202 


ii- 59 . 


r * 654 


iii. 7 . 


133 


ix. 2 . , , 


253 
254 


Nehemiah iii. . 


iii. 15 . 


1 a 658 


iii. 26 . 


653 


iv. 2 . 


► » 253 


v. 


• • 3IO 


vi. 2 . 


253 



Nehemiah vii. 1 1 . 


Page 656 


vii. 25^". < 


• 252 


vii. 37 9 


161 


vii. 61 * 


» 6?4 


xi. 25 . « 


318 


xi. 26 . , 


286 


xi. 27 . . 


285 


xi. 30 . 9 


229, 285 


xi. 31-36 , 


• 253 


xi. 3C . . 


■ 161 


xiii. 23^ « 


* 253 


Esther i. 6 . 


• 413 


Job ii. 7 » • 


• 159 


xv. 7 . • t 


653 


xxxvii. 9 . . 


67 


xxxix. 16, 21 <• « 


• 655 


xl. 23 , , . 


• 657 


Psalms i. 3 . » . 


658 


iii. 4 a a 


» u J-r 


xviii. , * 


. 65, 287 


xviii. 2 , 


» 654 


xviii. 16 • • 


• 658 


xxii. 13 9 » 


• 549 


xxiii. 2 • « 


98 


xxiii. 4 o 


a 60 


xxiv. 2 * • 


» 657 


xxix. • ( 


* . 100 


xxxii. 6 s » 


658 


xxxiv. 5 • ■ • 


98 


xiii. .-. ■ 


e 474 


xiii. 7 . • 


6?8 

a v J 


xliii. • . 


» 477 


xlvi. • » 




xlvi. 4 « • 


658 


xlviii. 7 , , 


8 69 


Hi. 8 


• 99 


Iv. 6-8 , 


96 


.lx. . 


179 


lx. 6 




Ixv. 9 „ • 


• 6?8 


IXV. 14 e „ 


655 


lxvi. 6 . . 


• 657 


lxviii. 7 . » 




Ixviii. 14 , » 


97 


lxviii. 17 , , 


K49, qqo 


lxviii. 23 . • 


549 


lxxxiii. . . 


179 


lxxxiii. 13, 14 . 


96 


lxxxiv. 6 . • 


. 655 


lxxxiv. 7 . a 


64 


lxxxix. 12 .1 


417 


cii. 19, 20 


564 


civ. . . . 


103 


civ. 4 


66 



2 Y 2 



jio The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Psalms cvii. 23, 24 


Page 132 


Isaiah xiv. 29-32 , 


Page 178 


cvii. 33 . 


658 


XV. . . 


568 


cvii. 35 > 


658, 659 


XV. 2 a 


» . 564 


cviii. • 


• • 179 


xv. 4 , 


* 559, 671 


cviii. 7 . 


655 


xv. 5 


. 654, 671 


ex. 7 . 


96 


xv. 6 » 


671 


cxiv. 3 , 


. . 492 


xvi. . , 


568 


cxviii. 20 . 


* • 634 


xvii. 6 » 


. * 654 


exxi. • 


, . 634 


xviL 12, 13 


. . 132 


exxvi. 4 . 


278, 658 


xix. 5, 6 . 


5 5 7 


exxvii. 6 . 


» • 634 


xix. 18 • 


• • 5 


exxxii. 6 » 


. . 226 


XX. . • 


• . 193 


cxxxiiL 


417 


xxii. 5 • 


653 


exxxv. II 


• 549 


xxii. IK • 


» . 659 


exxxvi. 20 


• 549 


xxiii. . • 


t 28, 667 


exxxvii. 1 


657 


xxiii. 1 » 


135 


cxlv. . 


634 


xxiii. 3 « 


658 


Proverbs viii. 25 . 


653 


xxiii. 12 » 


135 


xvi. 15 . 


64 


xxvii. 12 


658 


xxiv. 7 . 


. . 404 


xxviii. a 


3 6 9 


Song of Songs 


. 101 ff 


xxviii. I , 


• » 349 


ii. I 


656 


xxviii. 21 » 


655 


v. 14 


to 


XXX. 6 a 


283 


vi. 10 


• 564 


xxx. 14 . 


659 


vii. 5 


34O 


XXX. 15 o 


• » 3 02 


Isaiah „ . 


» • • 109 


xxx. 23 * 


656 


i. 9/ 


505 


xxxi. 1 * 


302 


ii. 6 . 


• • 177 


xxxii. 14 , 


653 


ii. 13 • 


* • 549 


xxxiii. t 


301 


iii. 9 . • 


• • 505 


xxxiii. 9 


549 


v. 24 • 


. , 66 


xxxiii. 21 , 


658 


v, 25-30 . 


• • 75 


XXXV. . 


148 


v. 26 ff t 




XXXV. 2 • 


a a 340 


vii. . * 


• . 301 


xxxv. 7 • 


658 


vii. 1 a 


658 


XXXvi, 2 a 


a • 234 


vii. « 




xxxvi. 6 « 


a • 657 


vii. 18 • 


. 6q8 


xxxvi. 18-20 


, a 3I 


vii. 20 ff. « 




xxxvii. 


• 30I 


viii. 22 a 


428 


xxxvii. 8 . 


a 234 


viii. 2% • 


» » 4*5 


xxxvii. 12, 13 


» • 31 


ix. 1 . • 


> * 414 


xxxvii. 24 . 


I48 


ix. & . 


a • 525 


xl. 4 


653, 655 


ix. 8-21 « 


• * 75 


xK 22 


97 


ix. 9 . • 


81 


xlii. . 


26 


ix. 10 • 


80 


xliii. 19, 20 


657 


ix. 11 , 


173 


xliii. 24 • 


. . 84 


ix. 18 


66 


xlix. IO . 


658 


x. 8-1 1 . 


31 


Ix. 6 . 


. • 523 


x. 28-3J 


• 292 


Ixi. 5 


310 


x. 29 . 


337 


lxii. 10 


668 


x. 32 


300, 653 


lxv. 10 . 


148, 310, 656 


xi. 6 /. 


490 


lxvi. 19 


. . 136 


xi. 14 » 


52, 178, 654 


Jeremiah 


109 


xiii. 19 • 


- . 505 


i. I, I4jf. 


• • it 



Index of Scripture References 7 1 1 



Jeremiah i. 40 

ii. 18 . 

?i: 3 1 • 

iii. . 

iii. 3 , 

iv. 6 

iv. 11 . 

iv. 23 26 

v. 24 

vi. 7 

vi. 20 . 

viii. 22 . 
xii. 5 

xvii. 8 . 

xviii. 17 
xxii. 10. 

xxii. 20 . 

xxiii. 14 

xxv. 24 . 

xxvi. 18 
xxvi. 20 
xxx. 10 

xxx. 18 

xxxi. 5, § 
xxxi. 15 
xxxi. 21 
xxxi. 24 
xxxiii. 12, 13 
xli. 17 . 
xlvi. 1 1 . 
xlvi. 18. 
xlvi. 27 , 
xlvii. 

xlvii. 4 . 
xlvii. 5 . 
xlvii. 7 . 
xlviii. 1 , 
xlviii. 5 
xlviii. 21 
xlviii. 22 
xlviii. 34 
xlviii. 4 c; 
xlix. 18'. 
xlix. 19 
!. 19 . 
1. 40 
1. 44 . 
Ii. 32 t 
li. 36 . 

Ezekiel 

iii. 1 5 » 
iii. 22 
vi. 3 
viii. 5 



Page 505 


Ezekiel xvi. 46 




Page 323, "505 


658 


xvi. 49, 53, 


55 


5°5 


315 


xvii. 10 . 




67 


323 


xix. 12 , 




» . 67, 69 


64 


xxi. 2 f, , 




278, 428 


5°S 


xxiii. , 




> • 323 


67, 316 


xxiv. . 




. . 171 


316 


xxv. 9 4 




564, 568 


64 


xxvi. ff~, « 




28 


658 


xxvii. 6 . 




136, 549 


84 


xxvii. 7, 12, 


* 3 


17 . 136 


5 22 > 583 


xxvii. 19 . 




. 84, 136 


484 


xxvii. 20 . 




• ! 35 


658 


xxvii. 26 . 




69 


69 


xxxi. 4 




657 


. 406 


xxxiv. 26 




653 


549 


xxxvi. 2 . 




653 


5o5 


xxxviii. . 




655 


656 


xxxix. 2 . 




53 


2 33> 6 53 


xxxix. 18. 




549 


225 


xl. 6 




428 


364 


xlii. 19 . 




429 


654 


xlvii. 1- 12 




512 


325 


xlvii. 8 . 




413 


290 


xlvii. 16 . 




552 


668 


xlvii. 18 . 




491, 552 


310 


xlvii, 19 . 




270, 507 


309 


xlviii. 28 . 




t 270, 507 
658 


3 T 9 


Daniel viii. 2, 3, 6 




522 


viii. 9 




278 


405 


viii. 21 • 




136 


364 


xi. 2 , 




136 


184, 194 


xi. 5 ff. , 




278 


170 


xii. s-7 , 




658 


• 655 


Hosea i. 5 . , 




385, 655 


191 


ii. 18 




• . 490 


564 


vi. 3 . 




64 


654 


vi. 8 . 




582 


559, 656 


ix. 10 




89 


5 6 4 


x. 15 . 




» • 2^0 


559, 671 


xii. 1 » 




• • 302 


568 


xii. 11 




582 


5°5 


xiii. 7 




490 


484, 491 


xiii. 15 




67 


549 


xiv. 3 




» . 302 


505 


xiv. 5 » 




. 99, 417 


484 


xiv. 6 , 




99 


337 


Joel . o 




• * 104 


658 






3™ 


* 109 


I 19/. . 




66 


654 


ii. 3 . 




66 


. 655 


ii. 23 . 




. . 6 4 


658 


iii. 2, 1 a • 




■ • 655 


428 


iii. 18 - 




310, 657 



7 12 The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 



Joel iv, 4 . 


Page 413 


Zechariah xii. 11 . 


Page 389, 406 


v. 14 . 


655 


xiv. 4 . 






Amos i. 3 . • 


S8l 


xiv. 10 




9178 f\C.1 


i. 6 . 


183 


xiv. 14 




a UjU 


i. 6-8 


• • 194 


xiv. 21 




• 5 


i. 13 . 


58i 


Malachi . » 




1 in 


ii. 9 . 


136 


1 Maccabees 




r8-> 


ii. 13 . • 


667 


ii. a 




• 212 


iii. 14 • 


. • 250 


iii. . 




212 


iv. I . • 


► . 549 


iii. 16 




» O54 


iv. 4. . • 


, • 2"?0 


iii. 24 




. a f\CA 

» 4> u j4 


iv. 6- 1 1 • 


• 75 


iv. 29 






iv. 10 


■ * 159 


v. 1 . 




549 


iv. II a 


. * 50s 


v. 6-8 




588 


v. e, . , 


285 


v. 9 




500, ^oy 


V. 10. -> 


a 490 


v. 13 






Vi. 14. a 


568 


v. 15 




• 40 


vii. 10, 13 . 


a 250 


v. 17, 20 




» My 


vii. 14 ■ 


a 8l, 82 


v. 23 




/I T/1 

a 4*4 


vii. 15 • 


• a 311 


v. 24^. 




• 588 


viii. 9 • 


176 


v. 25 




c87 


viii. 14 • 


285 


V- 37-43 






ix. 3 . » 


• • 6 59 


v. 52 




481 

« 4° J 


ix. 7, 8 • 


* . 170 


v. 57-61 




a 211 


Obadiah 19 . • 


» 202, 582 


v. 58 




e 194 


Jonah i. 3 . • 


, 129, 136 

65S 


v. 65 




3l8 


ii- 3» 5 * 


v. 66 






Micah i. 1 . « 


» » 2 33 


v. 68 






L 3 > * 


• • 6 53 


vi. 31, 49, 


CO 


. -51 j 


i. 10 . » 


1 • 194 


vii. 40-45 






i. 13 • a 


e o 235 


ix. . 




ill 2 /l 2/« 

4*4 


i. 14 • ••• 


i a 196 


ix. 2 




• tj" 


i. 15 * 


» 229, 233 


ix. 19 




"5 T 9 
a at I X 


IV. A . a 


» • 310 


ix. 32-49 




a 491 


iv. 8 . 


653 


ix. 35/: 




568 


v. 2 . • 


• • 3*9 


ix. 50 


^j4> 


2QO 2CC 


vii. 14 • 


549? 5 82 


ix. 50-53 




268 


Nahutn i. 4 . • 


» • 549 


ix. 52 




2 T 1 
a ^1 j 


iii. 8 • 


658 


x. 30 




/i t e 
• 4 J 5 


Habakkuk iii. iy« 




x. 69 




*38 


Zephaniah ii. • 


a 12, 178 


x. 75 




• 213 


ii. 2-7 a 


a • 194 


x. 76 




I36, 2I3 


ii. "J a 


• • 171 


x. 83, 84 




IQ2 

*yj 


ii. O a 

u. y a 


• 5°S 


x. 86 




1 02 


Ha^fyai . a 


• 310 


xi. . 




a 424 


Z«vhariah i. 8 a 


656 

a a J 


xi. 28-34 


'161, 


2 54 


iv. 7 • 


656 


»• 34 


253, 352 


vii. 7 • 


, . 202 


xi. 60 




185, 192 


ix. a 


. . 178 


xi. 67 




443 


ix. 5-7 • 


194 


xii. . 




424 


ix. io . 


331 


xii. 38 




202, 203 

406 


X. I • 


, . 64 


xii. 41-52 




X. IO • 


. • 389 


xiii. 4 




a I8 S 


xi. 2 . 


543 


xiii. 13 




202 


ad. 3 • 


485 


xiii. 22 




549 



Index of Scripture References 



7i 



1 Maccabees xiii. 25, 29 

xiii. 43 

xiii. 47 

xiv. 5 

xv. 28 

xvi. 4 
xvi. 11 
xvi. 15 

2 Maccabees iii. 5, 8 

viu. S 
x. 11 
x. 17 

xii. 9 
xii. 11 



Xll. 


29 


xii. 


3i 


xii. 


35 


xii. 


38 


xiu. 4, 


Esdras ii. 17, 24 


, 27 


iv. 28 




vi. 29 


* 


vii. 1 


■ 


viii. 67 


■ 


Judith i. 8 . 


• 


iii. 9 


• 


iii. 10 


* 


iv. 6 


• 


iv. 7 . 


* 


vii. 1-20 




vii. 3 


• 


viii. 3 


• 


xv. s 




Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 2 



xlvi. 18 
Book of Enoch . 

lx. 

IxxvL 

Matthew iii. 5 

vi. 31 . 
vi. 32 . 

x. 15 • 

xi. 24 
xiv. iff. 
xiv. 13, 19 
xiv. 34 . 
xvi. 13 . 

Mark i. 4, 5 

ii. 14 . . 

iii. 8 . 

v. 1 . . 
v. 24 . 
vi 11 



30 



356, 



Page 212 
216 
137 
136 
216 
212 

483 
250 

S3S o 

538 
538, 587 

5S 1 

156 

282 

358, 363 
358 
233 

229 

212 
538 
538 
538 
538 
538 

385, 549 
■ 385 
356, 363 
385, 389 
356 
356 
385 
356 
549 
485 
4 
64 

65 
66 
506 
457 
434 
505 
505 
570 
457 
443 
476 

484 
429 
239 
601, 631 
460 
505 
442 



54i 



Mark vi. 53 . 
viii. 27 
x. 

X. I 

x. 13 
Luke 1. 39 
i. 65 
iii. 1 

iii. 7 

iv. 25 ^ 

v. 1 

vii. 37 

viii. 42 
ix. 

ix. 10 
ix. 25 
ix. 52 ff. 

ix. 54 

x. 12 
xii. 38 
xii. 54 

xii. 55 
xv. 16 

xvii. 29 
xix. 4 

John i. 28 
iv. 

iv. 21, 

vi. 10 

x. 4, 14 

xi. 54 

xii. 21 
Acts vii. 16 

viii. 9 
viii. 26 
viii. 28 

viii. 39 
ix. 

ix. I 
ix. 23^ 
x. 

xviii. 22 

xxv. 3 . 

xxvi. 11 

xxvii. I 
Romans ix. 29 
2 Corinthians xi. 

xi. 32 
Galatians i. 15-17 

iv. 25 
Hebrews viii. 23 
James v. 7 . 
2 Peter ii. 6 . 
Jude 7 • 

Revelations xi. 8 



23 



544, 



,0 o 



